


The Secret Fated

by Applesandbannas747



Series: Fated [2]
Category: Fence (Comics)
Genre: M/M, Soulmate AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-21
Updated: 2020-05-27
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:41:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 21,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24167518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Applesandbannas747/pseuds/Applesandbannas747
Summary: When a Fated falls, the only thing able to wake them is a kiss from their soulmate. Nick is terrified of what will happen if he falls because his status as a Fated is uncertain to him and unknown to the larger world, and for good reason. As a might-be Fated, he's spared some thought to the question of soulmates, namely if he has one and, if he does, can he remain a secret?
Relationships: Nicholas Cox/Seiji Katayama
Series: Fated [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1754926
Comments: 49
Kudos: 106





	1. Part One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m gonna level with you: this will make SO much more fucking sense if you read The Sleeping Prince first. I know Eugesse isn’t everyone’s jam, but all the groundwork with the Fated stuff is laid in that fic. If you just read Part One of Sleeping Prince, you’d be better off but also live your life how you want to live it and if you don't mind being kinda confused, I respect that and you're valid

Nick didn’t really get along with his roommate. He was cold and distant and had this look in his eye that made you feel insignificant and tiny. They’d been rooming together for going on four years and he’d never made a dent in the guy’s steely attitude. And, to be honest, he didn’t trust the guy. There was something fishy about Seiji Katayama and just because Nick couldn’t figure out _what_ didn’t mean that he was wrong.

“Would you turn that down?” Seiji asked, irritable as ever. Nick cranked his computer’s volume up. “You don’t seriously follow that tosh, do you?”

 _That tosh_ was the engagement of Connecticut’s resident prince to their old fencing captain. “Uh, yeah, if I don’t keep up with the tabloids, how else am I gonna know what to give Eugene shit about?”

“I can’t believe Eugene actually fell for him.” Nick could hear the judgmental frown.

“Soulmates don’t get a choice,” Nick said with a shrug Seiji could probably hear. “It’s not Eugene’s fault.”

“How unfortunate for him.”

“Not that I don’t agree with you, but why do you dislike Jesse Coste so much?”

“Why do _you?”_

“Seems like a dick,” Nick answered seamlessly. “One that always gets what he wants and never had to work for a damn thing. But everyone thinks he’s a goddamn prince.”

“Well said. Now turn the volume down, I don’t need to hear another thing about Jesse Coste for the rest of my life.”

Knowing there was no point to arguing, Nick turned down his volume. Footage of a beaming Jesse hung on Eugene’s arm scrolled across the screen and Nick’s mind fell to worry the way it had at every mention of Jesse Coste’s romance this past year. He’d fallen. It wasn’t supposed to be genetic but it didn’t bode well for Nick.

According to his mother, Nick was the son of none other than Robert Coste. Which meant his half-brother was Jesse Coste. And Jesse Coste had fallen asleep last year. Nick worried it would be _him_ that fell asleep this year, just after turning eighteen to match his brother. And that would be a disaster. Nicholas Cox was a secret. And a mystery. He had a lot of anxiety about his future because he wasn’t sure what it held. And not just in the typical teenage angst or existential dread way.

Fated weren’t meant to have affairs after they were married. They were supposed to be deep in love with their _soulmates_ , not sleeping with random commoners. But an affair had been had and Nick had been born without Robert Coste being any the wiser. When his mom had told him, Nick had been sure it was a joke. But she maintained the story to this day and had coached him tirelessly about keeping the secret. Half-Fated were rare and taboo, so there wasn’t much conclusive information on what it meant to be one. Nick wasn’t sure if the blood he had from his father was enough to ensure he had a soulmate or if the blood from his mother—an UnFated woman who wasn’t Robert’s soulmate at all—was enough to make him too common for such things.

It would make everything so much easier if the UnFated blood won out. If he fell—only Fated ever fell, no one knew why—it would be obvious what he was. He’d grown up hoping that if he did have a soulmate, he’d be the one required to wake them. UnFated occasionally were in a bond pair, as proven by Eugene and Jesse. His secret would be safe unless he fell asleep. As far as he knew, he and his mom didn’t even have a contingency plan for if that happened. Basically, they would just be fucked. No one wanted to hear about the bastard son of a Fated, born to a commoner a year after his shining prince of a son made an entrance into the world.

But that shining prince had fallen. And Nick worried it was an omen for his own fate.

* * *

Nick woke up with relief. That had been his first emotion every day since his eighteenth birthday. He’d woken up. Not that he couldn’t fall at any point during any day now that he was of age—assuming he _did_ have a soulmate—but his gut reaction to waking without a kiss didn’t care about the logistics.

The morning was bright, winter wouldn’t keep the sun late until at least November. As captain of the Kings Row fencing team, Nick should have been quicker to get out of bed and hit the piste than he was. But, bright morning or not, it was chilly and the dorms hadn’t flipped over to heating yet, so Nick pulled out his phone and stayed inside the warmth of his bed for a couple minutes, pulling up a new interview of Eugene and Jesse. He didn’t bother with volume control; Seiji would be long gone, already at the gym and itching to scold Nick for his dawdling.

“Look at this bastard,” Nick said to himself, smiling fondly as he watched his friend charm the pants off of the early morning talk show host. “He’s made the whole world love him.”

There’d been controversy in the Jesse fan groups over the reveal of his soulmate. A lot of people had been hoping he’d pair with Cordelia Whatsherface, but he’d ended up with a nobody instead. Nick hadn’t ever doubted they’d all come around, though. Everybody that talked to Eugene liked him. He was just a genuinely nice guy with a good sense of humor. The video ended and Nick pulled himself out of bed. But before he ventured to the bathroom, he shot off a text to an old friend.

Captain #2 (disbanded)   
  
**Today,** 5:59 AM   
**Nick:** your face in the interview today: 😍😍😍   
  
**Eugene:** your face all the time: 🤡🤡🤡   
  
  
  


Nick laughed, tossed the phone on his bed, and made his way to the bathroom. He didn’t sneakily peek to make sure Seiji was gone before barging through the curtain—and Seiji’s pristine half of their dorm room—to get to the bathroom. That was a habit he’d kicked halfway through freshman year. Seiji was _never_ there when Nick woke up on weekdays.

Stopping cold, Nick rubbed his eyes before looking again at the bed that sat near the door to the bathroom.

“I’ll be damned,” Nick said, his eyes showing him the same thing they had before he’d rubbed them and blinked away the sleep. For the first time in over three years, Seiji was asleep in his bed, peaceful as could be. At six in the morning. On a school day. He’d miss his lesson with his private coach if he didn’t wake up. Like, right the fuck now.

“Seiji?” Nick asked, edging towards the sleeping figure. He still felt heavy and groggy with sleep himself. “Hey, dude, wake up. You’re super behind your freaky strict schedule.”

Seiji didn’t stir at all. Nick should leave. Seiji might well kill the messenger if Nick woke him up. And what did he care if Seiji slept through his private lessons, breakfast, and first period, for that matter? They weren’t friends. They got on well enough to make the team work but this wasn’t his responsibility. Even so, Nick came closer, unable to just leave Seiji be.

“Hey,” he tried again, shoving at Seiji’s shoulder a little. “Seiji, wake up.” Still nothing. Nick shook a little harder. “Seiji!” Nothing. “You’re really asleep, aren’t you? I told you all your early mornings would catch up with you.” Nick tried a third time to jolt Seiji awake but he was pretty convinced by now that Seiji’s body _really_ needed the extra Z’s. “As long as you’re at practice this afternoon, I don’t care,” he told Seiji’s sleeping form.

Shrugging, he turned away from the bed. He couldn’t believe Seiji hadn’t woken up to jump down his throat over the loud interview he’d watched. Nick could probably—

A grin spread across Nick’s face and he scrambled over to his school bag, digging through it to find the loose marker he knew he’d thrown in there at some point this quarter.

“Ah-ha! Gotcha!”

Back at the bed, Nick knelt and carefully leaned over Seiji, black marker uncapped in his left hand. Keeping in the laughter was hard, his hand was practically shaking from it. A nice curly mustache would look great on Seiji. Maybe a matching goatee. _And a monocle,_ Nick thought, nearly losing his shit over the perfection of his vision.

Nick leaned in close, and then closer. He couldn’t wait to see Seiji’s expression when he woke up and got a load of his face in the mirror—or maybe he’d realize he was so late that he’d run out of the room without even checking the mirror. The excitement pulled Nick even closer to Seiji’s face. And then he miscalculated, his head jerking too close to Seiji— _too close, too close, too close—_

Nick sat back fast enough to give himself whiplash, staring in horror as Seiji’s eyes finally blinked awake. It only took a fraction of a second for them to narrow into a harsh and unforgiving glare.

“ _What_ are you doing?” He demanded.

“Nothing!” Nick’s hand jumped behind his back, concealing the marker. Seiji stared hard where it had disappeared, then his fingers shot to his face. Nick was sure he’d been caught as Seiji brushed fingers over his lips, but then he bolted out of bed and into the bathroom with more panic than Nick had ever seen from him. Nick heard his sigh of relief before he was storming back out of the bathroom, hand out in front of him.

“Give me that.”

“What?”

“That marker, give it to me.”

“I didn’t do anything!”

“Only because I woke up. You don’t deserve markers, you can’t be trusted with them.”

Seiji looked so pissed and Nick was so relieved that he was only pissed about the marker that he went ahead and handed it over without any more complaint. Seiji capped it and then used it to brandish Nick towards his side of the room.

“I cannot believe your immaturity, Nicholas. You’re eighteen and you woke up how early to pull this sort of juvenile prank? _Try_ to pull it, I should say. It’s sad.”

“Not as sad as missing my expensive private fencing lessons because I overslept,” Nick sang as he flipped the curtain over his shoulder.

“What are you— _shit!”_

Nick laughed as Seiji flew around the room with more chaos than even Nick generally caused, hopping into sweats and out of nightshirt at the same time as he reached to toss the marker over to their desk. With another glare, Seiji disappeared back behind the cover of the curtain but Nick had already seen the show. It was almost as funny as a mustache and monocle would have been.

* * *

Technically, Nick had kissed Seiji. In a _my lips brushed your lips on accident for a teeny tiny portion of a second_ sort of way. He was lucky to have survived the ordeal. If Seiji found out Nick had somehow lost his balance and fallen, using his lips as a pillow, Nick would be D-E-A-D _dead._ It would be fifty-fifty whether Seiji or the embarrassment killed him first.

He kept his mind off it during school, and then practice demanded all of his mental capacities. All of his patience, too. Zayn and Nathan had a rivalry going on that could motivate them both brilliantly…or turn them both to shambles. It reminded Nick of his and Seiji’s start on the team. They’d learned to co-exist well enough, channeling the antagonism into something constructive. But it was exhausting to be on the other end of it and Nick felt sympathy for both his former captains, all his former teammates, and his coaches for having to whip him and Seiji into shape.

“They act like children,” Seiji said after Nick had called it a day and the other two had left.

“They’re our age.”

“Hmm. I suppose _you_ aren’t much better.”

“Careful, Katayama. You’re speaking to your captain.”

“Just try and captain me, I dare you,” Seiji snapped. Nick was delighted to see him in such a short temper, it made him fun to mess with.

“I’ll write you up if you don’t apologize for taking that tone with me.”

“You will not.”

“I will too.” Nick pulled a black marker from his pocket with a grin to rival the Cheshire Cat’s. “Look, I’ve got my marker ready to go and everything.”

“I’m not scared of your marker.”

“Really? You seemed pretty scared of it this morning.”

“You’re an imbecile and I’m leaving.”

“Insubordination and disrespect,” Nick said, strolling over to the cabinet Coach kept all the papers in. Seiji froze on his way to leave, watching Nick warily. With each step Nick took, Seiji’s eyes narrowed further. When Nick was to the cabinet, Seiji broke.

“Fine,” he growled. “My apologies.”

“Not bad,” Nick told him, turning to lean against the cabinet. “But I’d like the sound of you saying sorry to your _captain_ a lot better.”

Seiji’s eyebrow ticked of its own accord, a give that he was beyond mad. Seiji had never wanted the captaincy. Or, if he had, he’d never campaigned for it, never complained when he was passed over despite being the best fencer on the team, never shown any sign that he wanted it at all. But Nick knew Seiji hated _him_ being the captain. Having him under his thumb like this. Nick was careful to ration out his threats and leverages as captain, though. He liked to think he was a pretty good guy and bullying a teammate just wasn’t a very captain-y thing to do. But, on occasion, this was too fun to resist.

“I’m sorry for my disrespect,” Seiji loaded each word with loathing. It looked like it physically pained him to contemplate finishing the sentence. Nick nodded for him to go on. _“Captain.”_

“No harm done.” Nick pushed away from the cabinet and Seiji stalked off.

* * *

Captain #2 (disbanded)   
  
**Today,** 1:30 PM   
**Eugene:** It’s been too long since I saw you, man! How’re my favorite freshies?!   
  
**Nick:** Seniors 🙄   
  
**Eugene:** You two free tonight?   
  
**Nick:** Yeah, what have you got in mind?   
  
  
  


* * *

“Seiji, come talk to me after you shower,” Nick said. Seiji ground his teeth, Nick could see his jaw working. He nodded smartly because there wasn’t much else he _could_ do.

“Don’t tease him too much, Nicholas,” Coach Williams warned as Seiji left with the others to clean up.

“I’m not,” Nick said. “Really, I’m not!”

“Seiji’s a good sport but if you push him too hard, you’ll alienate one of your biggest assets. You can’t expect him to feel like a valuable member of the team if you single him out for your own fun instead of for constructive criticism or encouragement.”

“Don’t make me laugh, Coach. Seiji’s a better fencer than me, he doesn’t want my advice and he especially doesn’t want my praise. And I’ve never _actually_ written him up. Zayn and Nathan get in loads more trouble than he does.”

“But they deserve it. You might try letting him know he’s appreciated. You are his captain, after all.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean anything.”

“Doesn’t it?”

Nick didn’t think so. He wasn’t Eugene. He wasn’t Harvard. He was just Nick, the same guy Seiji’d roomed and fenced with since freshman year. Being captain meant Seiji had to listen to him, but it didn’t actually change anything else. Seiji didn’t respect him or care about his opinion like he had their old captains’. But Coach was frowning at him in a curious way so he held up his hands in surrender.

“I’ll be nice, I swear.”

“You’re a good captain, Nicholas. You’ve handled Zayn and Nathan spectacularly. Show Seiji some of the same support, that’s all I’m asking.”

“I will. Thank you, Coach.”

“I’ll leave you to it. Enjoy the evening, kiddo.” She left then, leaving Nick feeling a little guilty and a little chastised. He hadn’t bullied Seiji _that_ much. But Coach was right, he never complimented Seiji the way he did the other two, sure it would come out as condescending if he ever tried.

“Bye, Captain!” Nathan waved, chipper as could be on his way out. Zayn wasn’t far behind. They weren’t ever far apart and Nick had to wonder sometimes if there was something going on there.

“Good work, you two,” Nick told them, waving them off. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Get some rest, it’ll be a long day.”

“Aye aye, Captain,” Zayn tipped him a mock salute and then they were gone.

“You wanted to see me?” Seiji asked, voice sounding soft and subdued after the shouts from the others. Seiji didn’t do nervous, he didn’t do anything but his perpetual self-assured calm. And Nick’s authority wasn’t enough to push on that, push him anywhere near nervous. But it was undeniable that Seiji would rather be almost anywhere else than here.

“You did great today,” Nick said. Seiji squinted at him suspiciously. “I mean, you always fence good, I just meant that—,” Nick fumbled for words, feeling hot and prickly under Seiji’s continued and confused stare. _Pull it together, Cox. You’re team captain. Act like it._ “You’re a brilliant fencer, but you know that already. I just wanted to say thanks for always bringing your all but still being patient with the others. I saw you helping Zayn today, stopping the match like that to help him figure himself out. I really appreciated that. I’m glad to have you on my team.”

Seiji was no less confused than he’d been at the start, but it was just possible that a tiny smile was trying to work its way onto his face. It didn’t make it all the way and Nick realized he was staring. He cleared his throat, looked around the room as if inspecting it for anything out of place. A fleeting memory of those lips, soft and pink, had invaded his mind. It’d been a month since he’d accidentally kissed Seiji via falling on him and it had been at least half that long since he’d really thought of it. Why it had come back to him just now, Nick didn’t know.

“Thank you,” Seiji said, simple and curt. Nick knew better than to be offended by the tone. He thought Seiji might actually mean it. “Was that all?”

“Oh—no, one more thing,” Nick said, remembering why he’d summoned Seiji. Seiji nodded like he’d expected this. “Eugene’s coming by today, I told him we’d meet him out front Castello in about an hour.”

“When was this decided?” Seiji asked.

“I got the text during AP Lit and we don’t share English anymore so I forgot to tell you.”

“I’m busy.”

“Eugene’ll be sad if you ditch.”

“No he won’t.”

“He’ll track you down if you don’t just come.”

Seiji knew as well as Nick did that it was true and didn’t say another word on the matter. Nick knew he’d come.

* * *

Eugene was a hugger. He pulled Nick and Seiji into bone-crushing hugs, one after the other.

“My team babies, all grown up!” He said, same as he did every time he’d seen them since graduating. It had gotten old fast. “How’s the team?”

“A disaster,” Seiji said.

“That’s what you said last year but you still took State.”

“We will this year too,” Nick said, waving off Seiji’s negativity. “Seiji woke up on the wrong side of the bed today. He’s grumpy.”

“No, I’m _grumpy_ because Zayn and Nathan were arguing too much to get any real fencing done during practice.”

“Oh boy, I love to see you two struggle with angry team babies. Karma’s a bitch.”

“They’re also seniors, Eugene,” Nick reminded him. “And they’re not even new to the team. We got them after you and Bobby left.”

“So what you’re saying,” Eugene smiled, reaching up to pat Nick patronizingly on the head, “is that you’ve got a team made up of team babies? You and Seiji are just the advanced versions of Nathan and Zayn. Anyway, let’s get going. I’ve got someone waiting in the car I’d like you to meet.”

Nick had to walk around to the far side of the car because Seiji was already climbing in behind the passenger seat and Nick didn’t think he’d scoot. Eugene got into the driver’s seat and turned around to face into the back, a familiar blond boy beside him doing the same.

“We get to meet the fiancé?” Nick asked with exaggerated exuberance. It was strange to be meeting his secret half-brother as his friend’s soulmate and soon to be husband, but Nick had had time to mentally prepare for this. Eugene was a close friend, and he expected an invite to the wedding.

Eugene started to say something but he was quickly interrupted by Jesse, who was the picture of surprise as he said, “Seiji?”

Seiji didn’t answer but he looked a little peckish. No, he looked nervous. _Seiji Katayama, nervous,_ Nick thought in awe. Seiji reached for the door but Nick was the only one that saw.

“I thought it was a strange coincidence that Eugene had a Seiji on his old high school fencing team but I never imagined—what in the world are you doing at a common school?” Jesse asked.

“I came to Kings Row to fence,” Seiji said tightly.

“You could have done that at Exton,” Jesse exclaimed, which seemed weird to Nick since—

“What’re you saying, Jess? Exton’s a Fated school.”

“And Seiji’s a—,” Jesse cut off. Because, at about the same moment that Nick and Eugene realized Seiji had a big secret, Jesse realized that it _was_ a secret.

“You’re a Fated?” Nick asked, breaking the stunned silence. Seiji’s hand twitched again, like it was aching to unlatch the door so he could bolt. “I _knew_ there was something weird about you! Didn’t I, Eugene? I always said he was fishy but you said I was—.” Nick didn’t finish. He’d always thought Seiji was strange, always suspected he had some sort of story. But, beyond the confirmation that he’d been right, the actual secret finally hit him. Seiji was a secret Fated. Just like him. What were the odds?

“I mean,” Eugene said into the newly brittle silence. “I guess we never asked.”

And, just like that, they were done with the topic. Nick thought Jesse looked like he wanted to say something more but Eugene went on to introduce Nick and then cuffed Jesse over the head in a way everyone that knew Eugene was familiar with.

“It’s been forever since I went to The Moon Rock Diner. And I want to hear all about the team and your plan to get that trophy again this year.”

* * *

“Stop looking at me like that,” Seiji hissed the moment they were back on campus, waving Eugene and Jesse off. Jesse wasn’t so bad, Nick decided. As long as Eugene was there to tell him off for being an entitled asshole.

“Sorry,” Nick said. No point in denying it if Seiji had noticed. And how could he not? Nick had tried not to gawk but it was a big deal.

“I’m no different than I was this morning.”

Was Seiji actually feeling self-conscious? His arms were crossed over his chest, his pace when he turned toward the dorms brisk.

“You’re a _Fated_ , you’re supposed to be a step above the rest of humanity or something. Touched by gods. I don’t know. It’s a bit of a change from what I always thought, just give me a second to get used to it.”

“You do that,” Seiji said dryly. “Get used to it and keep your mouth shut about it. I’ve only got a year left at this school and if this gets out, I’ll know who to blame. If I’d known Eugene was bringing Jesse, I never would have agreed to come. Did you know?” He suddenly demanded of Nick. Nick’s hands sprang up, empty and splayed in surrender.

“Not until I got in the car. I just don’t understand why you’re here or how you know Jesse or how I’ve never heard of the Katayama Fated.”

“No, you don’t understand.”

“Seiji—,”

“It’s not relevant to you at all, mind your business and I’ll mind mine.”

For a terrifying second, Nick was sure Seiji meant he knew about the Fated blood he shared with Jesse. Could Fated smell each other? He was woefully under-informed about the workings of Fated. A lot of stuff, they kept to themselves. Which made being a secret bastard of one a hard thing indeed. Some people theorized that the commoners that got soulmates were descended from people like Nick, the Fated blood dormant in most children. Nick liked that theory, it meant he wouldn’t fall which meant he wouldn’t be given away. It meant that he might not even have a soulmate. He could never decide if he wanted one. The thought of having an _other half_ , the guarantee of love…it was terrifying. But it made him ache a little to imagine there wasn’t anyone out there for him. No one _fated_ for him.

“My heritage does not affect my fencing at all and therefore falls outside your jurisdiction,” Seiji continued, missing Nick’s sigh of relief. _He’s only talking about fencing. He can’t tell about me._ “And if you try to leverage your status as captain, I’ll quit the team.”

Nick stopped dead. “What?”

“I said, I’ll quit the team if you don’t keep my secret or if you try to write me up for withholding details that have nothing to do with you.”

“You can’t!”

“It would leave you in an unsavory situation.” Seiji frowned at Nick and then continued walking. Nick had no choice but to follow. “Which is why I’m confident you’ll be understanding of my request, _Captain.”_

“I—Yeah, you have my word,” Nick promised. He couldn’t risk losing Seiji. So much so that he didn’t ask any of the questions clamoring around in his mind, afraid they’d count as trying to leverage his position for information. And hot damn, he couldn’t believe that Seiji _ever_ listened to him. Fated were a cut above the rest and Seiji had already been several cuts above Nick without taking that into account. Whatever had brought Seiji Katayama to Kings Row, he must really care about it to let a mere mortal boss him around.

“Good.” Seiji swept into their room, releasing the door as soon as he was in. Nick had to catch it before it slammed on him, it was a loose door that could be persuaded to go in any direction with even the _thought_ of a draft.

“Does Coach know?” Nick thought he might be allowed this knowledge. It was fencing related, after all.

“Of course,” Seiji said, shedding out of his sharp jacket and deep red scarf. “All my teachers are aware of the situation to the extent that they need to be.”

“And that is—?”

“Goodnight, Nicholas.”

“Yeah, fine. ’Night.”

Nick yawned. He was tired but he wasn’t sure how much sleep he’d get. There was a lot to think about. Seiji had to know more about being Fated than Nick did. Maybe he could help Nick. Part of him was tempted to tell Seiji that he was secretly—part—Fated too.

Nick peeled off his coat, shucked off his shoes. He couldn’t tell Seiji, could he? But if he didn’t have to fumble through this thing alone, wouldn’t that be better? Eyeing the curtain, Nick weighed his next move carefully. It was possible he could have the best of both worlds if he could just phrase his questions right.

“You could have told me,” Nick said, edging around the ducks.

“Because you’re my captain?” Seiji scoffed.

“No, because I’m your roommate.”

“It’s not for you to worry about.”

“Yeah, but what was your plan if you fell while in our room? Isn’t it, like, common to fall when you’re already asleep?”

“You’d have gotten a nurse eventually.” Seiji didn’t seem concerned.

“Oh.” That wasn’t helpful to Nick. Of course, Nick would have fetched a teacher if something was wrong with Seiji and they would’ve known what to do. Nobody even _knew_ about Nick at this school, nobody would know what to do with him if he fell. “What if you fell during school? How would you cover that up?”

“If I fall, and that’s a big _if_ , I’d be taken from school and everyone would be fed a story about poor health. And then the lie would collapse if anyone bothered to keep up with Fated stories from overseas. And that’s all you need to know. I’d like to get to bed now.”

Unbidden, Nick’s eyes jumped to Seiji’s bed guiltily. They kept doing that, ever since—

_Oh fuuck._

“What is it?” Seiji asked impatiently. Nick’s face must have shown his panic plainly if Seiji had noticed. “A ghost? A spider? Or do made beds scare you on principle?”

“So, uh,” Nick cleared his throat, “how would I know if you fell?”

“Go to bed.”

“I think it’s a fair question. Relevant. How could I tell if you’d fallen?”

“If I didn’t wake up,” Seiji said, giving Nick a look like _are you stupid?_

“Right, yeah, of course. But like…if you’re asleep, y’know, is there a way to know if you’re just asleep or if you’re, like, _asleep?”_

“Yes. If I wake up, I was only asleep. If I don’t, I’ve fallen.”

“Okay. But like. How would I know for sure you were fallen?”

“When I didn’t wake up.”

“But before that, is there a way to know?”

“Before I don’t wake up?”

“Yeah.”

“I promise it will be obvious if I’ve fallen due to the fact that I _won’t wake up.”_

“All right, all right,” Nick said, as frustrated as Seiji was confused but giving up. “And is there a way to know for sure who your soulmate is?”

“Is there a—? Yes, Nicholas, there’s a simple and foolproof way to know who my soulmate is. He’ll be the one that kisses me awake or awakens when I kiss him. That’s how it works.”

“Sure, okay. Sounds legit. But, theoretically, is there another way to know? After you theoretically fall and are theoretically kissed awake?”

Seiji narrowed his eyes. “Theoretically,” he said slowly, “why do you have so many questions about this?”

“Theoretically,” Nick gulped, “there may have been a time earlier this year you were really conked out. And, theoretically, I might have thought it was funny to draw a mustache on you because you were in so deep. And, theoretically, it’s possible that when I was about to draw a mustache on your face, I fell just a smidge and my lips might have maybe landed a little bit on yours. So, theoretically—,”

“Please stop talking,” Seiji cut him off with a succinct hand gesture, horror sinking into his face. “The only reason you may continue talking is to tell me you’re joking.”

Nick did not keep talking.

“All right,” Seiji said, voice having taken on the tone used to calm a panicked animal. But Nick was fairly certain it was for Seiji’s benefit, not his. “Let’s not jump to conclusions. What did it feel like?”

“What did it feel like?”

“Yes. When you—kissed me. Explain it to me.”

“I didn’t feel a spark or anything. I mostly just felt panic because I’d gone and fallen on your mouth, hadn’t I? It felt okay though, I guess? You’ve got really soft lips. Warm but not in a gross way. Kinda nice, overall. For a millisecond accidental kiss with my roommate, anyway.”

 _“No,”_ Seiji said emphatically. “I wasn’t talking about _that._ I meant did you feel anything strange? Heavy, maybe? Was there a feeling when you got near me? Like...a _pull?”_ There was a hesitance to the way he said it that made Nick think he didn’t really know what he was talking about, he was only repeating back something he’d been told. But now that he’d said it...

“Yes,” Nick was relieved to have words for the strange sensation that had dogged him that morning. _“Yes,_ I remember I felt heavy and tired when I woke up. I couldn’t get myself out of bed for the longest time.”

“And then?” Seiji prompted grimly.

“And then...I noticed you were still asleep and I thought I’d mess with you. _After_ trying to be nice and wake you up. But you wouldn’t wake up. And I was _loud_ , man. Also, I shook you a little. So yeah. I thought it’d be funny to draw on you but then I started leaning over and I couldn’t stop leaning—it felt like I was being pulled down. Is that normal for Fated?”

“I’m not really sure,” Seiji admitted. “I’ve never experienced it. But my father said those were the signs to watch for once I was of age.”

“So are we soulmates, do you think?” Nick asked, finally and concretely putting the idea into words. Seiji looked pained.

“You tell me.”

“What does that mean?”

“I don’t know,” he snapped, “ _you’re_ the one that kissed _me._ Do you have any soulmate-like feelings for me?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” Nick returned, equally as disdainful as Seiji.

“I was asleep, I didn’t know you’d kissed me.”

“And _I_ didn’t know you were a Fated so it’s not like it ever occurred to me that you were my soulmate either!” Nick glared at Seiji, cheeks reddened. Seiji glared back. “I guess…I guess I’ve kind of thought about kissing you since then?” He offered eventually, which didn’t help at all with his cheeks.

“Kind of?”

“In passing,” Nick said, eyes flitting to Seiji’s lips at the talk of kissing. He hadn’t touched them for long but they _had_ been soft and warm and kind of nice. Kissing them again definitely wasn’t the worst thing he could think of.

“Don’t think about that _now,”_ Seiji told him impatiently.

“Well, why not?” Nick demanded. “We’re soulmates. Why shouldn’t I think about kissing you?”

“Theoretically. _Theoretically,_ we are soulmates.”

“Is there a way to double-check?”

“I’m…not sure. I think so. There must be, right?”

“And if we are? Seiji, what the fuck are we supposed to do if we _are_ soulmates?”

“What all soulmates do, I suppose,” but Seiji didn’t look convinced.

* * *

“I’ve been doing some research,” Seiji said, dropping his books down next to Nick during lunch. It startled Nick, he only made the team eat together when the majority of them shared a lunch period. Needless to say, Nick didn’t force Seiji to sit with him on the days Nathan and Zayn had first lunch.

“On…” Nick raised his eyebrows suggestively.

“Yes, obviously on _that,”_ Seiji hissed. “I asked my parents about confirming after the waking.”

“And?”

“And there’s a way.”

“Great!”

“It’s simple enough,” Seiji went on. “Just a blood test, something about some component in our blood matching since you—theoretically—woke me, thus activating the hypothetical bond. Obviously, we’ll have to tell my parents in order to arrange it, but—what? Why do you look like that?”

“Blood test,” Nick repeated faintly.

“Yes. Don’t tell me you’re afraid of needles.”

“I’m—,” afraid of all the things a blood test could say about him beyond just his theoretical soulmate. “Yes,” he decided. “Is there any other way?”

“Maybe.” Seiji was exasperated. “But this is such a good solution. Do you really _have_ to make this difficult? One needle won’t hurt you.”

“I won’t do it.”

“Nicholas.”

“Seiji.”

They had a glaring match but Nick wasn’t backing down.

“Fine,” Seiji huffed, “I’ll look into another way.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> clearly this is an AU because everyone is just the proper age for their grade lmao


	2. Part Two

Seiji was stubborn and generally good at getting his way when he really wanted it. His presence at Kings Row Boys School proved that. But he had met his match in Nicholas Cox. There was something cagey about Nicholas, Seiji had always thought so. He had a chip on his shoulder the size of a boulder and Seiji had never been able to understand what all the extra weight was from. Surely, poverty and adversity couldn’t explain away all of it. Or maybe it could. Seiji wouldn’t know. He’d grown up overseas and in the lap of luxury. All Fated were wealthy, sheltered from the real world and real experiences.

“I’ve exhausted every resource, searched high and low, and, Nicholas, there’s _no other way._ Just submit to the blood test—,”

“I won’t.”

“Why not?” Seiji demanded, losing patience with this. He’d explained a dozen times that there was nothing else to be done but Nicholas always crossed his arms and set his chin and petulantly refused to listen to the reasonable—and only—solution to their dilemma.

“I just won’t and you can’t make me.”

That was true enough. Seiji didn’t think there was any way he could truly and honestly force Nicholas into a blood test.

“Look, we tried it your way. I’ve spent two weeks researching and asking around and there’s nothing there. Or, if there is, it hasn’t been discovered due to the fact that people aren’t usually stupid enough to _accidentally_ wake up a Fated without noticing.” By the time Seiji had finished speaking, it was through gritted teeth.

“Fated don’t generally pop off to sleep in commoners’ schools.”

“Mind your business.”

“Why? Isn’t your business basically my business now that we’re theoretically soulmates?”

“No.”

“Whatever. I’ve got to get to the gym to talk with Williams before practice. See you in twenty.”

It infuriated Seiji that Nicholas could just walk away like that, but what was there to do? Nicholas had duties as captain of the fencing team and they took priority over this. _This_ being a leading factor in the course of Seiji’s life.

If Seiji could have squared away all this soulmate business years ago, he would have. He’d have liked to know what boy he’d be getting and when and possibly _why_ too. But soulmates didn’t work that way. You didn’t get to know until you knew and it was so inconvenient and unpredictable it drove him mad. And now Nicholas had gone and made it even more complicated.

Seiji hoped Nicholas wasn’t his soulmate. He had a sinking feeling he was, though. It was too much of a coincidence for him, a Fated, to have been too deeply asleep to be woken by any normal means. For him, a Fated, to wake up right after a kiss—no matter how brief or accidental—had been pressed to his mouth. It would be a relief to just know for sure but Nicholas wouldn’t even give him that much.

Seiji wasn’t sure he bought Nicholas’s fear of needles. Couldn’t imagine Nicholas, the strange and annoying but steadfast and dauntless boy he’d known for just over three years, not submitting to the blood test even if he had a terrible fear of needles. It was out of character for him to let such a selfish trifle block them from finding out something so important. Which meant there was something else blocking him. But Seiji didn’t know what.

With a frustrated sigh—they were becoming more and more common lately—Seiji followed after Nicholas. He’d be early to practice, but he almost always was.

* * *

Zayn and Nathan drove Seiji mad a good portion of the time. Aiden was the only other teammate Seiji had ever found so difficult. And Nicholas, he supposed, though it was harder to think of him as a troublesome teammate now that he was a captain. A troublesome captain.

It was a long practice today, the brats were fighting. They had a match coming up this week and if those two didn’t pull it together, they’d have trouble placing favorably in it. Nicholas swept in and disbanded the fight with ease, turning the other two to laughter. It reminded Seiji of the way Eugene had often handled Nicholas when he took over the captaincy two years ago. Perhaps Nicholas had picked up the trick from him.

As a precaution, Nicholas separated the pair of them, sending Zayn over to Seiji to fence. Seiji donned his mask again, irritated at Nicholas for leaving before their own match had come to a proper end with a conclusive winner. He tried not to let it show, slotting his mask back into place and assuming an en garde position. Zayn wasn’t bad. No match for Seiji, but not bad. Not as good as Nicholas. But not bad.

Seiji could hear Nicholas and Nathan at it the next strip over. Nicholas’s raucous laughter rang through the gym, his advice and praise woven into it in a happy and supportive voice Seiji didn’t know how he managed to keep up on days like this when there was more fighting than fencing. When Zayn caught him unawares and scored a point, Seiji pulled his attention back to this strip. This match.

“Good work today, guys,” Nicholas called later, all four of them with masks under their arms and water bottles in their hands. “We’re gonna take a rest day tomorrow, come back strong on Thursday for one last practice, and go kick some ass on Friday, who’s with me?”

Zayn and Nathan whooped in response and Nicholas offered them high fives before ushering them to the locker rooms. Instead of returning his hand to his side after all his gesticulating, Nicholas landed it heavy on Seiji’s shoulder, gripping tight for a second.

“Great fencing, Seiji,” Nicholas said, then used that grip on his shoulder to pull him in closer, voice lowering. “Thanks for always being my rock. I think I’d have gone insane with those two if I didn’t have you, fencing steady through it all.”

Nicholas let go and followed after his charges. Seiji watched him with some confusion. This was relatively new. This casual praise like Nicholas might offer to either of Seiji’s other teammates. Like Nicholas had never offered to Seiji before. It wasn’t common, exactly, but it kept happening, and Seiji wasn’t ever sure what to do with it. Seiji had always been the best individual fencer on his team, even as a freshman. He’d been in the fencing world for years by the time he’d come to Kings Row and had a personal coach who had a reputation for being strict and tough. He didn’t need praise. He didn’t crave validation from anyone and it was laughable to think of _Nicholas_ as some sort of authority figure he strove to please.

And yet…

Seiji had respect for each boy he’d called his captain. Harvard had been collected and calm and everything Seiji could have asked for in a captain, earning Seiji’s respect easily within their first interaction alone. Eugene was a rough and tumble sort that had taken some getting used to just as a teammate that first year, but he’d done just as well as Harvard when elevated to captain, and Seiji had developed a new layer of respect for him during his time leading the Kings Row fencing team, though he was vastly different from Harvard. Seiji would have followed either of them anywhere. Nicholas was different, strange, unlike the other two. For one, Nicholas was, well, _Nicholas._ Seiji’s bothersome roommate and troublesome teammate. He was more fallible than Harvard and Eugene had seemed, being Seiji’s same age and being someone he’d lived with for two years by the time Seiji was expected to see him as captain. But he was. For the second year running, Nicholas Cox was Seiji’s captain. And Seiji _did_ respect him for it, though he’d never let on how much, not if he could help it.

Captaincy wasn’t something Seiji had ever been interested in, wasn’t something he wanted or thought he’d be good at. But Nicholas was. Watching his handling of Zayn and Nathan, it was obvious. And they’d won state again last year under him. Begrudgingly, Seiji had to admit that he may well follow _this_ captain anywhere too. So it was strange but also just a little bit nice to have his efforts during practice noticed and commented on favorably. It had been over a year since he’d received any direct praise or acknowledgment from his fencing captain before. Seiji just couldn’t understand why he was receiving it now.

“Nicholas?” Seiji called accidentally. Nicholas pivoted around, not quite to the doors to the locker rooms.

“Yeah?”

“I was just wondering—,” Seiji faltered. “Why call off practice tomorrow? I think we’d benefit from more time before our match against Clearwater.”

Nicholas considered it. That was strange too, having his concerns be taken seriously instead of a reason to be called a _Debbie Downer._

“I appreciate that,” Nicholas said, wandering back over to Seiji. “But I think Zayn and Nathan need the day off. Do you remember our first year fencing together?”

“If I didn’t, I’d be worried about my memory.”

“Right,” Nicholas barked a laugh. “Well, we fought, didn’t we? All the time. And sometimes we needed that day to work out our shit without fencing getting in the way. They need a personal day to get over whatever’s got them biting each other’s heads off. I bet they’ll come back Thursday in good form.”

Seiji considered it.

“All right,” he agreed, nodding. “That makes sense. I remember the fights that needed a rest day from fencing. If you think that’s what this is, I trust your judgment.”

Nicholas beamed. “Thanks, Seiji. Now let’s hit the showers.”

* * *

Nicholas had been right. The day off had been more productive and beneficial for the team’s performance in their match against Clearwater Academy than the extra practice would have been. The bus back to Kings Row was loud and rowdy and awful. Nicholas had carried on Harvard’s truly awful tradition of party bus karaoke, just as Eugene had before him, and Seiji was harassed endlessly as the others tried to get him to sing along.

“Have a little fun,” Nicholas cajoled, trying to shove the microphone on Seiji. “A little victory song, what could it hurt?”

“Yeah, loosen up a bit,” Zayn hooted, then shrank under Seiji’s unimpressed gaze.

“If the captain can’t get him to let his hair down, no one can,” Nathan lamented, also earning a warning look from Seiji.

Nicholas grinned but tossed the mic into the air, catching it again and rescinding it. He’d never thought he could get Seiji to join in, he just liked the fun of harassing Seiji about it.

The bus trundled on its jolly way, mercifully pulling to a stop in front of school and putting an end to Nicholas’s third rendition of some Taylor Swift song in a row.

“We’re halfway to state!” Nicholas called as they all piled out of the bus. Zayn and Nathan threw fists in the air and whooped. “Keep up the good work, guys, and try to get some rest tonight. You deserve it.”

Seiji watched as Zayn swung an arm over Nathan’s shoulders and pulled him off-kilter, the two of them stumbling off to the dorms as if they’d been drinking something stronger than Sprite on the bus. Nicholas chuckled, nudging an elbow into Seiji.

“They’re really something, aren’t they? Are they friends? Are they rivals? Are they flirting? I can’t tell, I really can’t.”

“I’m not convinced they can either.”

“That’s the truth. No clue how they’ve made it so long as roommates without figuring out that heaping pile of sexual tension but it’s not my place.”

“So long as they can keep it together enough to fence, I don’t care.”

“I know you love our team babies, don’t lie.”

“They’re our age.”

“But they’re newer to the team. And if I’ve got to put up with Eugene calling me a team baby for the rest of my life, I deserve to bully someone too.”

“That’s a terrible mentality.”

Nicholas didn’t deny it. They followed after their teammates, walking together to their own shared room. Their walk involved considerably less stumbling and hollering and bodily contact, which was, in Seiji’s mind, one of life’s little mercies.

“We did good today, wouldn’t you say?” Nicholas asked when they were installed back in their room. Seiji hadn’t expected any more conversation tonight and glanced over to Nicholas questioningly.

“Nathan’s improved a lot,” Seiji said, deciding there was no reason to ignore Nicholas. “But he falls apart when forced onto the offensive, that’s something to work on. That boy—Grady, wasn’t it? He almost won their bout.”

“Yeah, I thought so too. So do we work on getting Nathan better at attacking or better at feinting his opponent into attacking so he can do his thing?”

“Both are useful skills.” Seiji considered what he knew of fencing Nathan, of his style and his capabilities. “He’s dreadful at attacks. There’s more promise to controlling the bout by other means, building on that is a more productive use of time.”

“We’ll focus on that. Still should see what we can do about his attacks, though.”

“Agreed.”

“Hey, Seiji?”

“Yes?”

“I just wanted to say, well, thank you.”

“For what?” Seiji asked impatiently, narrowing his eyes at Nicholas. “I haven’t done anything. Save for win my bouts tonight but that’s nothing special.”

“Nothing unusual,” Nicholas corrected, then waved off the thought as if that wasn’t the direction he was taking them in at all. “No, I mean, thank you for this. You see things I don’t. All the time. And you always point them out to me without making a huge deal of things. Plus, you’re my sounding board for how to fix things.”

“It only makes sense to have you deal with administering feedback. I’ve been told I’m insensitive about it.”

“You are.” Nicholas flashed him a grin. “We used to have a book where we wrote down all your worst Seijisms. There was some good shit in that thing. I wonder where it’s got to these days…” Nicholas pulled himself back from his thoughts over the missing book. Seiji wasn’t sure how to feel about its existence. “Anyway. Thanks. For real.”

There was nothing else to say but, “You’re welcome.”

* * *

“Nicholas?” Seiji asked the next morning before practice. Nicholas, who’d been setting up the balance beams, looked up and greeted him with a smile and raised hand.

“Hey,” he said, then got back to work.

Seiji thought it was possible they’d made some sort of progress last night. He thought it was possible they’d been making some sort of progress since the morning Seiji had woken up to Nicholas hovering over his face with a marker. Progress toward what, exactly, it wasn’t clear. But maybe Nicholas was feeling generous toward him. Maybe…

“I wanted to talk to you about… _that.”_

“Oh,” Nicholas’s attention was back on him in an instant. “Right now? Here?”

“You know as well as I do that Zayn and Nathan won’t be along until they’re required to be. We’ve got half an hour.”

“All right. Sure. Cool. Do you wanna…?” Nicholas brandished a hand down at the balance beam.

“Sit? I think I’ll pass. The way I see it, we’ve got three options.”

“Options are good.”

“One: we get the bond pair blood test. Either we’re soulmates or we’re not and we’d know, once and for all, what the truth is if we—,”

“I’m not doing it. Next option.”

Seiji tried not to let his annoyance show. He wasn’t good at being tactful or sensitive. Especially when everyone else was so unreasonable. But he knew blowing up wouldn’t impress Nicholas.

“Fine. Next option. We function under the assumption that we’re _not_ soulmates. After graduation, we go our separate ways and you’ll find some ordinary romance to pursue. Last option, we assume we _are_ soulmates and possibly we fall in love. Possibly, we were right and we get married and live happily ever after and get a cat—,”

“I want dogs.”

“Not the point. The point is, if we’re soulmates, great. That works. But if it’s a false positive, so to speak, maybe we fall in love like we think we’re supposed to. Maybe we even get the rings and the cat—and the dogs, yes, I know. And then one day I fall. Or my legs carry me to a Waking Night. And then I’ve got a husband and a soulmate and they’re not one and the same, do you see my issue with that?”

A shadow passed across Nicholas’s features, darkening his mood like few things could. He got the problem, then.

“I’d rather never fall in love at all then have _that,”_ Nicholas spat. Seiji was startled by the hostility of it, the tone and the stormy countenance feeling like some sort of accusation. Seiji didn’t think he’d done anything to deserve an accusation.

“You think I want that any more than you do?” He demanded, voice rising.

“Well it’s not so bad for you, is it? You just get a spare. A husband _and_ a soulmate to love you but where does that leave me when you choose the soulmate over the person you said you loved?”

“I’m not the one being difficult,” Seiji snapped. “I’m not the one being selfish and gambling away someone else’s only chance at love because I’m _scared of needles._ If we assume you’re just a dumb klutz and we say our goodbyes in a year but we really are soulmates, where does that leave me? You’re not a Fated, you can go on with your life worry-free and blissfully oblivious. Find some other normal person to fall in love with and never be any the wiser that your love is missing something. But I don’t have that luxury. If I never fall, if I never wake any Fated I kiss, if I never find my soulmate because I already found him but I let him go because he was too stubborn to get some blood drawn, then that’s it. I don’t get love at all. Fated can’t have relationships outside their bond pair—,”

“They can.”

 _“I_ can’t.”

“I don’t know that I’m really soulmate material, Seiji, hate to break it to you.”

“I don’t know that you’re soulmate material either but I’d rather have you than nothing if that’s how it is. Just—,”

“Super flattering, thanks, Seiji, but I think I’ll pass. I’m just a commoner, right? Too dumb to even notice if my love isn’t right, so I’ve got nothing to lose by opting out of that blood test. Actually, thanks for helping solidify that decision for me.”

“Nicholas—,”

“I think _we_ need a rest day. You can have the morning off.”

“I’m not leaving, you can’t make me.”

“Captain’s orders. Get out or I’ll write you up and ruin your perfect record.”

“I’ll complain to Williams for your abuse of power.”

“I’ll blow your cover.”

“I’ll quit the team.”

“Then you shouldn’t mind leaving it for the day.”

“Fine! But don’t expect me to come back.”

Seiji was already stomping out of the gym, burning mad, by the time he got around to regretting the petty threat. He’d come to Kings Row because he’d wanted to fence, it was ludicrous to even consider giving that up just because he was mad at a dumb boy.

* * *

Seiji and Nicholas were in a fight. They’d sanded down most of their irritations with each other during their first year shoved together practically every minute of every day. Fights like this one weren’t the norm these days. Fights that lasted more than a day and weren’t based in things that could simply be shouted out and moved past.

Nicholas was being unreasonable. This entire mess was his fault. Who accidentally kissed someone? Who would rather risk a loveless life than face a needle? And where did Nicholas get off on thinking he was the victim here? Seiji was the one with the most to lose. Romance and soulmates had never been a huge concern of his but he did want those things. The thought of missing out on that because Nicholas was being difficult was uncomfortable and suffocating. Which was counterintuitive since he didn’t even want Nicholas for a soulmate and it was Nicholas, specifically, that he risked losing if they couldn’t figure out this blood test stuff, not just some vague idea of a soulmate.

Seiji checked his phone for the time again. Practice had started ten minutes ago unless Nicholas had changed the schedule since Seiji had last seen it. This was officially the first time he’d ever ditched a fencing practice. Saturday didn’t count, he’d been kicked out of that one. This one, though, he’d deliberately missed. And it was driving him crazy. He was itching to grab his things and speed walk across campus to get to the gym. To fence. But he didn’t.

Maybe it was time he asked his parents for help. But Seiji would rather not bring them into this if he could help it; they’d come in full-force. Launch an investigation on Nicholas, probably. It was clear he was out of his league with this one but Seiji didn’t have anyone to ask, he didn’t keep in touch with any of his Fated schoolmates from France. Seiji wasn’t well connected in Fated circles at all these days.

_Except…_

The phone in Seiji’s hand glinted as he rocked it slightly, catching some light through the window and reflecting it off his walls. Normally, he wouldn’t consider it, but he was feeling a tad more desperate than he usually did, so his pride allowed him to unlock his phone and dial up an old captain. An old friend.

“Seiji?” Eugene asked, sounding every bit as surprised as could be expected. Seiji couldn’t remember ever calling Eugene before.

“Are you with Jesse?” Seiji said in way of greeting.

“Jesse?” Eugene sounded even more surprised to be saying this name than the last.

“Yes, Jesse. I need to talk to him.”

“Sure, I’m with him, but why do you want to talk with Jesse of all people?”

Seiji thought he could hear some sort of ruckus in the background. Jesse, presumably. Saying something along the lines of how everyone wanted to talk to him, if Seiji wasn’t much mistaken.

“I need to ask him about—oh, but never mind. I can just talk to you instead, which is much more agreeable.” Eugene wasn’t a Fated but, of course, he _did_ have a soulmate, so he’d be just as much help as Jesse might have been.

“I’m guessing this is soulmate stuff?” Eugene asked, then, away from the speaker, “Jess, shove off, he changed his mind because I’m more agreeable to talk to. Okay, I’m back, sorry about that. What wisdom can I impart to you today?”

“How could you tell Jesse was your soulmate?”

“Knowing you, this isn’t a theoretical type question, no way you’d try asking _Jesse_ about soulmates unless you’re super desperate. So, who is it? Who’s the lucky guy that gets to call himself your soulmate?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Not sure? So…did you find him or not?”

“I don’t know,” Seiji repeated irritably. “That’s why I’m asking how you knew Jesse was your soulmate. Did it feel any different?”

“Wait, wait, wait, I’m sorry, but how can you _not_ know if you found your soulmate? How do you miss something like that?”

“I didn’t call you to be judged, answer my question or I’m hanging up.”

Eugene, predictably, laughed.

“Okay, keep your secrets for now but that sounds like a funny story and I want to hear it eventually. How did I know Jesse was my soulmate? Good question. I could tell you that it was pretty obvious after I kissed him back to consciousness but I’m guessing that’s not going to help you any.”

“No, it’s not,” Seiji agreed.

“It’s…there’s not really words to describe it, especially since it’s so subtle that you miss it if you aren’t paying attention, but it’s like there’s always this pull. Like I can’t stay away from him for too long without finding myself on my way to see him. Especially when I’m pissed at him—that’s the worst. Like my soul’s telling me to figure shit out and fix it.” There was a soft murmur out of Seiji’s hearing range. “Jesse says it’s the same for him.” Another smattering of words Seiji couldn’t decipher. “And he says Robert’s said the same thing, too. Apparently it mellows out after a couple years, after you’ve settled into your bond.”

“That’s absolutely no help at all,” Seiji said with exasperation as he thought of his literal physical inability to stay away from Nicholas for any prolonged amount of time since they’d started school together. Roommates, teammates, classmates…altogether, Nicholas was the person Seiji saw the most. He didn’t have a chance to notice if he felt any pull toward Nicholas.

Eugene didn’t answer right away, and when he did, it was with more caution than he usually exercised. “Say, you wouldn’t by any chance be thinking our very own Nicky Boy accidentally woke you up from your sleep, would you?”

Seiji shouldn’t have been surprised that Eugene had come to the correct conclusion—he’d always been eerily and annoyingly good at that.

“How’d you know?” Seiji gave in and asked rather than bothering to protest.

“Not a lot of opportunity for you to possibly get woken by someone at school without noticing. Also, Nick was poking around about soulmate stuff a month ago. Thought it was because we’d all just been hit with the ‘Seiji is secretly a Fated’ bomb and he’s always been curious about you. But he also went asking about Jesse and what soulmates feel like and so on. Seemed a bit suspicious in this new light. For real, you gonna tell me that story?”

“No.”

“I’ll get it out of Nick later. Listen, I don’t know how you two doofuses messed up the waking but you shouldn’t worry too much about it. Soulmates have a way of working out if you just let it happen.”

“That’s not an actionable answer.”

“Nope, it’s not. Bet you’re pissed about the whole situation. Anything else I can help you with?”

“Yes.”

“Oh?”

“Strongarm Nicholas into taking a blood test for me, would you?” Because Seiji was back to Plan A with this. “I’ve tried everything but he’s set against it.”

“Why?”

“To test if we’re soulmates, there’s a test for it—,”

“Yeah, I got that from context. Why’s Nick against it?”

“Not a clue. Needles, allegedly, and his fear of them.”

“Bullshit, Nick’s not scared of needles. You had to talk him out of a poke and stick tattoo two years ago, remember?”

“I’d forgotten about that,” Seiji said, surprised to find the memory tucked away, unsummoned even by all this recent talk of needles. “Why you thought daring Nicholas to give himself a tattoo of a poop emoji was a good idea, I still don’t understand.”

“Because it’s fucking hilarious, that’s why. Probably lucky for him you were there to stop that.”

“If he _is_ my soulmate then it’s equally lucky for me that I was.”

“Anyway, Seiji, if I were you, I’d be trying to figure out why Nick’s not into the blood test idea. You can’t argue him into it unless you know what it is you’re arguing against, yeah?”

“You’ve clearly got some ideas about his reason, why don’t you save us all the trouble and just tell me?”

Eugene made a sort of humming sound to indicate he was thinking about it. Seiji was pretty sure it was sarcastic.

“It’s just not really my place. But, look, Nick’s not scared of needles. So there’s something else about the test he’s set against. I think it’s the result, not the process he’s scared of. Why?”

“I don’t know, haven’t I been saying?”

“Just think on it. And remember what I said about Nick always wanting up in your business.”

“What?”

“Keep keeping your theoretical soulmate out of trouble, I’ve gotta go. My untheoretical soulmate’s getting impatient. Keep me updated. And congrats on your win last week!”

After Eugene hung up, Seiji was back to staring at his phone, this time feeling frustrated and even more confused for all new reasons.

* * *

Nicholas frowned at Seiji as he came in the door. It was a complicated sort of expression that transmitted apprehension and indecision and, to Seiji’s amusement, some disapproval. The tables had turned on that one. Usually, it was Seiji administering disapproving looks. But Nicholas didn’t say anything and soon the tried and true duck curtain tucked away the tension. Out of sight, out of mind.

Only, Nicholas wasn’t. He was out of sight but Seiji couldn’t stop puzzling over him even as the afternoon progressed to evening and then to night. 

If Nicholas was truly unafraid of needles—and now that Seiji remembered it, Nicholas had been entirely happy to poke himself with one repeatedly for something stupid, so he didn’t suffer from any sort of phobia—then what did that leave to be afraid of?

Seiji was afraid.

He didn’t like to be. Didn’t want to be. But he was. And, worse, he’d admitted as much to Nicholas during their shouting match on Saturday. Seiji was afraid of not knowing for sure when he’d always been promised he would. That was the trade-off for having a soulmate. You got to know for sure when you found them that they were the one for you. But, if you never found them, you couldn’t have anyone. Not without knowing it wasn’t right and creating a scandal in the process. It came down to that in the end. Seiji wanted to be sure before he fell in love. He wanted to know. He needed a solid answer. Was he meant to acclimatize to the idea of loving Nicholas Cox? Or did he need to fortify himself _against_ any sort of feelings for his troublesome captain?

Those questions had never plagued Seiji before. The idea of Nicholas as anything more than exactly what he was hadn’t ever come up. He was attractive enough, Seiji supposed. And passionate about fencing. And a decent enough person. But that was all the thought Seiji had spared for him. Certainly, there’d been no romantic wonderings before. _And there aren’t any now,_ he caught himself.

Turning on his bed to face the wall, Seiji scowled at it. Now that the possibility had opened up, he was worried. Worried because Nicholas’s smile was confident and bright. Worried because Nicholas was always more fun to fence than Zayn or Nathan. Worried because Nicholas’s words had turned deliberately kind. Unless they were fighting about the blood test. Neither of them had been particularly kind at that time. Because both of them had been too afraid to bother.

Seiji replayed their argument in his mind. He’d already thought through it a dozen times, but this time, he looked for the reason behind Nicholas’s objections. He thought, also, of Eugene telling him that Nicholas was always curious about him.

“No,” Seiji accidentally said out loud.

“What was that?” Nicholas asked. Of course he wasn’t asleep yet.

“Nothing.”

Seiji wasn’t going to say what he was thinking. Because what he was thinking was insane and Eugene was wrong. Nicholas didn’t _like_ him. He’d been as panicked at the idea of them being soulmates as Seiji had. But that was obviously what Eugene thought. And it made a certain amount of sense. If Nicholas had any sort of feelings for Seiji, the blood test might be scary. Not for the process but for the results. They’d know for sure if they were soulmates after it and if they weren’t, Seiji would never be with Nicholas.

 _Where does that leave me?_ Nicholas had asked. Alone. Not fated for anyone. But Seiji couldn’t really believe that Nicholas had any real desire to be fated for him. Perhaps they were in the same boat and, now that Nicholas had the surety of having a soulmate just barely at his fingertips, he didn’t want to give it up, even if it was with Seiji.

* * *

“So, are you ever coming back?”

Seiji looked up and found Zayn hovering nervously over him, lunch tray in hand.

“It’s been a week and Nick won’t say what’s up.”

“It’s none of your concern.”

“But it kind of is though? We need you on the team to take state. Can’t you and the captain work this out, whatever it is?”

“Interesting hearing that from you.”

“Nathan and I work things out. You and Nick make us. So who’s gonna make you guys?”

“Not you. Get back to Nathan and Nicholas now, I’m busy.”

“You’re supposed to eat lunch with us.”

“Am I? Interesting. I’ll take it under consideration.”

“Fine,” Zayn said that but he didn’t leave. He did a nervous little dance, ending up facing Seiji again instead of heading off to the others. “Will you come show me that counter riposte I keep having trouble with, at least? Practice isn’t ‘till five tonight…”

“Nicholas can show you.”

“Yeah, but if you’re quitting the team I want to see it from you again while I can.”

“Very well. I’ll meet you in the gym at four.”

“Great! Awesome, thanks, Seiji!”

* * *

Zayn was in the gym already when Seiji got there, looking slightly nervous.

“I forgot my jacket back in my room,” he said. Brilliant. “I could go grab it? I’ll be fast but…”

But Nicholas actually came decently early to practices to set up.

“There’s no time for that. I’ll just demonstrate without hitting you.”

“Do I really need the jacket for this?”

“Coach Williams’s rules require us to be in full gear any time we fence without her supervision. Do you want to cross her?”

Zayn grimaced. “No.”

“Do you know where the storage room is?” Seiji asked. “There are extra jackets in there.”

“I don’t exactly know where it is,” Zayn confessed. Seiji was losing patience for his teammate, this was turning into much more trouble than it was worth. “I’m a size forty-four,” Zayn added hopefully.

“I’m starting to think that Eugene’s not entirely wrong,” Seiji said, sighing. “I absolutely feel like I’m babying you right now. Fine, I’ll go get you a spare jacket.”

“Thanks!”

Seiji wondered the entire way to the closet _why_ he was going to such lengths for his teammate. He wasn’t even sure he’d be coming back to the team. But if he was leaving the team, surely one last time being a good teammate was in order.

The door to the storage room was already ajar. Lewis must be on another organization kick.

“I was starting to think you’d ditched me,” a familiar voice said as Nicholas’s horrid haircut popped up from his rummaging. “You’re not Zayn.”

“No,” Seiji agreed, “I’m not. But I’m going to have words with him.”

“Ah,” Nicholas said in understanding. “He set us up. What a scamp.”

“How he thinks this will do absolutely anything, I don’t know,” Seiji vented under his breath.

“Right? It’s not like we live together or anything. But, sure, maneuvering us into seeing each other is sure to change something.”

“I wasn’t talking to you. But, yes, Zayn’s plan wasn’t well thought through. And now he’s wasted my time.”

Seiji spun to the door, intending to berate Zayn for this wild goose chase. Nathan was currently Seiji’s favorite teammate. Ex-teammate.

“Uh, you didn’t happen to get the key from Zayn, did you?” Nicholas asked.

“What? No, why would I have? This door’s always open and why would _Zayn_ have the key?”

“Because I told him to hold it but then he ran outta here to go pee before I got it back. He was supposed to be helping me get out the dummies today but it looks like he felt more like being a dummy than carrying one.”

Seiji didn’t particularly care to stay and listen to Nicholas tell bad jokes. He reached for the door.

“It’s locked,” he said.

“Yeah, that’s what I’ve been saying.”

“That’s _not_ what you’ve been saying. Why is it locked, Nicholas?”

“The lock’s been jiggy lately. That’s why it’s important to always have the key with you or to leave the door open.”

“Why didn’t you tell me to leave the door open when I came in?”

“I thought you were Zayn! Zayn has my key. Fuck, all right, you got your phone?”

“It’s in my bag.”

“I’m sure Zayn will let us out eventually.”

“I’m going to stab him.”

“Aw, c’mon, it’s a little funny and a little sweet. He just wants Mommy and Daddy to stop fighting.”

“Don’t,” Seiji warned. “You sound like Aiden and I’m not dealing with that again.”

“Anyway, he’s right. We should talk. Williams says you haven’t talked to her about resigning.”

“You talked with Coach Williams about me?”

“Don’t give me that, you said you were quitting and then went on with this cold shoulder act and you haven’t been to practice all week. Williams isn’t impressed with your behavior and, honestly, Seiji, neither am I.”

“Don’t try to captain me,” Seiji snapped.

“I _am_ your captain. And I didn’t want to give you the third degree but if you’re not going to buck up and talk to me about getting back on the team or tell Williams you’re resigning, then you’re not putting me in an easy position. I’m disappointed at how you’ve decided to handle this—,”

“How _I’ve_ decided to handle it?”

“I honestly never took you for a quitter. More than that, I thought you took fencing more seriously than this. If you’re quitting the team, then quit. It’s disrespectful to leave us all hanging in limbo like this. This team—fencing on it—means a lot to me and I’ve got to do what’s best for it.”

“Thank you for that patronizing speech. As if fencing means more to you than it does to me—,”

“You’re sure not acting like it lately, throwing around quitting the team as a threat when you don’t get your way—,”

“Do you have any idea what I gave up to be here? To fence on your stupid team?”

“No, because you never fucking talk about your mysterious past!”

“I was meant to go to a Fated school and live a Fated life and it was no easy task convincing my parents to let me come _here_ instead, and all so I could fence properly. Everyone I know is overseas and it’s a constant battle to avoid being dragged there with them, especially this year. Especially now that I’m of age. It’s not a walk in the park hiding away a part of you when you could keel over into an enchanted sleep any moment. This isn’t my world but I’ve lived here so I could fence. Don’t patronize me.”

“Exton has fencing. Why Kings Row? Why an UnFated school? I don’t understand how it makes any sense for you to be here if you only wanted to fence.”

Seiji, all at once, felt drained.

“That’s just it. I only want to fence. But it doesn’t mean much to fence among Fated. It’s so separated from the rest of the fencing world. It’s not like this. It’s stuffy and riddled in politics between families and so, so small.” Seiji decided he might have to go back a bit further to explain. So he found a table and cleared away the clutter to take a seat. Nicholas watched him curiously. “I lived here when I was young. My parents aren’t from here but business brought them to the states and they had me during that time. I met Jesse during a business dinner between our parents and he showed me some of his rudimentary fencing. We were very young then.”

“Robert Coste was an acclaimed Fated fencer,” Nicholas said, nodding.

“I didn’t know you followed Coste gossip.”

“I don’t,” he protested quickly. “But I know my stuff when it comes to fencing and Robert fenced.”

“Yes, Robert fenced. And he taught Jesse. And Jesse showed me. And I told my parents that night I wanted to learn.”

“Really? That’s how you got into fencing?”

“It’s as good a reason as any.” But Seiji understood Nicholas’s surprise. It was such a small moment, a small and insignificant reason to pick up a blade and learn to fence. The most important thing in Seiji’s life could all be traced back to a boyhood desire to beat Jesse at the game he’d showed him at a boring dinner. Strange.

“I guess so.”

“I got a coach, obviously. And when we moved to France for the next business venture, Dmytro came with us. I learned to fence and I excelled at it. I beat every Fated in France. It’s not a large pool, really. I meant to attend Exton. It’s the premier Fated school in America and has the best fencing team. I wanted a bigger pool, I wanted out of the implications my fencing matches held for business deals and ventures between my family and the families of the people I fenced.”

“And you ended up at Kings Row. How?”

“Dmytro isn’t Fated. He’s the best coach my parents could find, which means he’s an incredible fencer. I always wondered if other common fencers could be so skilled. In the back of my mind, I always wanted to see if I was more skilled. But I would have gone to Exton as planned if I hadn’t asked to accompany Dmytro to the regionals here while we were on a trip to tour the school. Dmytro, as I said, is UnFated and wanted to know the fencing scene in Connecticut on both sides. I was curious.”

“Hey, I was at regionals that year.”

“Yes,” Seiji agreed. “And you were terrible.”

“No need to be mean—wait,” Nicholas flashed a smile at Seiji and decided to hop up on the table next to him. “You remember me from there?”

“Yes. I remember that you were terrible,” Seiji repeated, feeling a little warm. “Moving on. Coach Williams actually noticed my interest in the proceedings and, talking with her and watching the bouts…the glimpse into a whole new world of fencing made me want to explore it.”

“I wonder if Williams knew who you were.”

“I’ve never been able to tell.”

“She did a lot of scouting at that competition, it’s where she found me too. Got a letter offering me a scholarship to Kings Row if I made the team a couple months later.”

“I really—I love fencing. And I like the freedom of fencing here. I don’t take it lightly.”

Seiji expected more accusations and references to the last week, which he’d spent avoiding Nicholas and the team and fencing altogether. But Nicholas didn’t respond for a long stretch of time.

“I know you don’t,” Nicholas said after the pause had become uncomfortably long, even by Seiji’s standards. “You’re always early to practice and give it your all no matter what. Thank you for that. And thank you for all your help with the team this year and last. You’re like my second in command and I don’t—I’m not good about remembering to thank you for that or tell you that I see all you do and I appreciate it. You catch my mistakes as much as you do the others', too, and I’d be lost without you, basically, is what I’m trying to say. I might be captain but I’d be shit at it without your support. I need you on the team, Seiji.”

“I’ve ditched four practices in a row,” Seiji couldn’t help but point out. He hadn’t wanted Nicholas to but it seemed to him that someone had to. Now wasn’t the time to _thank_ him for his contributions to the team—contributions he hadn’t thought Nicholas really cared about—when he’d behaved like a terrible teammate as of late.

“You ditched practice but you came to help Zayn, didn’t you? That’s how he lured you into this trap, right? Coach might make you run suicides but I think coming to help Zayn shows that you belong on the team. I mean, I’ll have to write you up so I’m not showing favoritism, though.”

“As if you could be accused of such a thing.”

Nicholas didn’t laugh.

“You are,” he said. “Don’t tell anyone but you’re definitely my favorite. Which is why I’m asking you to come back to practice with me when we get out of here. Don’t quit the team. Please.”

“I won’t quit the team.” It felt an inadequate thing to say. “I shouldn’t have said I would. I never wanted to quit. And I shouldn’t have said most of the things I said to you on Saturday either. You have your reasons for not wanting to get the test done but I was only thinking of my reasons for wanting to get it done.”

“I know you wouldn’t be willing to quit fencing over just anything. Like…your reasons are important too. And I wasn’t thinking of them any more than you were thinking of mine. I just—I guess I didn’t realize that I could be taking your one chance at love or whatever away if we don’t get this all figured out. I’ve been thinking lately that it’s unfair of me to leave you in limbo just because that’s where I am and I got used to it.”

“Are you saying…?”

“About the blood test, I want to tell you this first in case—listen, whether or not we’re soulmates—gah!” Nicholas broke off in frustration, shoving a hand through his hair.

“You’re not afraid of needles,” Seiji contributed cautiously. Nicholas gripped the table.

“I’m not afraid of the needle. I’m afraid of the results. I—,”

The door clattered open and Nicholas sprang to his feet and far away from Seiji.

Coach Williams gave them both her best unimpressed look, Zayn and Nathan peeking out from behind her. Zayn looked a little guilty, but not as guilty as Nicholas did.

Which result, Seiji wanted to know, was Nicholas afraid of? Was he scared that Seiji wasn’t his soulmate? Or was he scared that Seiji _was_ his soulmate?


	3. Part Three

“Watch your back,” Nick said with a clap to Zayn’s back after their training came to a late end to match its late start. “Seiji might be stabbing it pretty soon. He wasn’t happy with your little stunt today.”

“But he’s back, isn’t he?” Zayn retorted, all signs of guilt completely gone. He claimed that he’d assumed Nick and Seiji had left to talk elsewhere when they never came back but Nick wasn’t sure he believed that. “And you looked like we’d caught you red-handed, Captain. What were you and Seiji doing in there?”

“Projecting your closet make out fantasies onto me and Seiji, are you?”

“I don’t want to make out _anywhere_ with Nathan.”

“Sure, but you’re the one that brought Nathan into this, not me.”

“Did you call me?” Nathan asked, materializing beside them and making Zayn flinch.

“Nope. Hey, you two have fun tonight,” Nick told them, laughing at Nathan’s confusion and Zayn’s dagger eyes. He shooed them out of the gym and got to cleaning it up, putting everything away.

“Do you have the key this time?” Seiji asked, taking the metaphorical baton from Nathan and appearing out of nowhere next to Nick.

“Yeah, I’ve got it. And I’m never giving it to the dumb team babies ever again.”

“Smart.”

Seiji helped Nick restore the gym to order. He’d had a long day—two-hundred suicides for his sins and a public shaming from Coach, who’d been unimpressed with his disappearing act and unsympathetic to his repentance. But Seiji hadn’t complained at all and now here he was, helping Nick with extra busywork that wasn’t his to worry about.

After locking up, Nick noticed that Seiji kept perfect pace with him on their way to the dorms. When they were installed inside their room, Nick let out a long breath. Seiji made for the bathroom, probably to take a shower. Nick caught him by the shoulder. He couldn’t wait. He’d lose his nerve sitting here with his own thoughts while Seiji took his time cleaning off the sweat of the day. Possibly, Nick would bolt by the time Seiji got out.

“I don’t care if you’re captain, you don’t get to shower first until you learn how to be sparing with the hot water,” Seiji told him grumpily, swatting off his hand. “And I think I need the shower more than you today, I’m gross.”

“You pull it off, though.” Understandably, Seiji didn’t laugh at Nick’s joke. But it wasn’t really untrue. Seiji _did_ look good, even tired and sweaty as he was. “I don’t care about the shower.”

All of Seiji’s momentum toward the shower cut off clean. All his attention was on Nick in an instant, intense and focused and burning with curiosity.

“What is it that you care about, then?”

“That blood test, the one that can tell us if we’re soulmates? It could tell you a lot more than that.” Nick wasn’t sure how _much_ more it could tell, how likely it was to be looked at close enough to reveal any of Nick’s secrets. Seiji shook his head, confused. He didn’t understand what Nick meant. “It could tell you what I am. And who I am. And if you’re my soulmate then it doesn’t matter that you know but if you’re _not_ …well, then, I’m trusting you to keep it quiet for me, okay? Because I’m trusting you with this.”

“What you…are?”

“I want to be the one to say, not some test. I don’t know how this test works or how closely things’ll be looked at and I don’t know if having Fated blood in you is plainly evident even without any DNA testing but—I’m rambling.” Nick took a deep breath and grounded himself before looking at Seiji’s wide eyes. Seiji was puzzling things together but he didn’t believe the picture that was forming, Nick could see it in those eyes. “My dad’s a Fated. Robert Coste, to be specific.”

“Oh,” Seiji said. He still didn’t believe the picture even as Nick was showing it to him clearly. “So that’s what you’re afraid of. The possible result of having your blood give you away.”

“Yeah. So now you know.”

For some reason, Seiji wasn’t taking it well. He looked confused and troubled and dazed. Maybe Coach had been too harsh on him, he wasn’t looking too good at all.

“Yes,” Seiji said, “now I know.”

“Are you all right?” There was a definite flush overtaking Seiji’s skin now that made Nick want to take his temperature.

“I don’t know what I thought your reluctance to get the test was about.” Seiji stuttered a nervous little laugh that was totally unlike him. “But it wasn’t that.”

“I don’t blame you, there’s no way you could have predicted this.”

Seiji braced an arm against the doorjamb of their bathroom heavily and Nick watched things fall into place for Seiji as he put everything into this new context and found that it fit. A lot of things probably made much more sense to him now.

“I’m—I’m going to take a shower,” Seiji said, pushing himself off the doorjamb and through the door. “I’ll keep it,” he added, hand on the door and ready to pull it shut. “Your secret, I’ll keep it.”

Nick didn’t even have time to say thanks before the door closed. Seiji was more disoriented from the news than Nick had predicted. But maybe that made sense.

Seiji was a proper Fated. He’d been raised on soulmates and fairytale love and people like Nick didn’t fit into that. It was worse, too, because it was Robert. Nick had been born a year after Jesse. Robert had not only taken a lover despite having a soulmate waiting for all his love somewhere in the world, but despite having that soulmate at home waiting for him. He’d ended things with Nick’s mom before either of them realized she was pregnant and she’d never made any attempt to get in contact with him. _We had an agreement,_ she’d told Nick when she explained to him what he was, _we went our separate ways._

She’d always said that they were in love, always said it was worth it. But if Nick couldn’t even understand that, how could he expect Seiji to? Seiji, who’d rather die alone than try and find love with someone he wasn’t fated for. It made sense that he was shaken when faced with such a distasteful reality. But it didn’t make Nick feel any better about that reaction, it made him feel dirty and wrong. That had to be how Seiji saw him now. A blemish on all Fated.

When Seiji re-emerged from the bathroom an hour later, he was composed again. He swept across the room and sat next to Nick on his bed. Once seated, all his determination melted into hesitation.

“You’re like me,” Seiji told Nick, a touch quieter than he usually spoke. “A secret Fated.”

“I guess,” Nick shrugged, accompanying the gesture with a forced laugh.

“What are the odds? I think it heightens the odds of us being soulmates, though. If your Fated blood promises you to someone, then it makes it more likely that we actually are soulmates. Pairs with UnFated are exceptionally rare, but if you’re Fated...” Seiji didn’t finish. He didn’t need to. He was seeing it through the lens Nick had had all along. In all likelihood, they were soulmates. That would solve a lot of Nick’s problems and ease a lot of his worries. But it also brought up a whole host of other troubles.

“I’ll do the blood test to make sure,” Nick said. “You win.”

“My father’s a doctor. That is, he can draw the blood and perform the test. It will be entirely confidential, I can guarantee it,” Seiji expelled in a rush. He’d been thinking in the shower. Nick was impressed he’d thought so far ahead. Thought of it at all. Nick had been ready to accept his secret getting out if it’d make Seiji stop acting so strange around him. He was tired of it and just wanted them to be all right again.

“I thought your parents were business type people?”

“My mom is.”

“Busy family.”

“Yes. But, for once, convenient. I’ll have to tell my parents about you but that’s all. We can go in and get the test and no one but my father will ever even glance at your blood or our results.”

“And then?”

“And then?” Seiji repeated, nonplussed.

“And then what happens? We get the results and if we’re soulmates, what happens?”

“Then, if you’ll consent to it, we court. Date, I mean. If we’re soulmates, we could date.” Seiji said _date_ as if it were an entirely new word in his mouth, and something of his jitters from before was back.

“Do you want to date me?”

“If we’re soulmates—,”

“No, I know you’ll date me if we’re soulmates. I guess I’m asking if you think I’m soulmate material.”

“I think you’re—we don’t always get along but I don’t dislike you.”

Nick wasn’t sure how he was meant to take that. Seiji didn’t look like he knew either.

“Okay,” he said, deciding that was as good as he’d get. “What about if we’re not soulmates? What then?”

Seiji took his time with his response.

“Then I’ll keep your secret and...and I guess we go our separate ways.”

And Nick would be back to square one. Worse, he’d be left like his mom. Fated were strange and terrible things and Nick’s chest felt tight. _We go our separate ways._

“Before then,” Nick blurted, alarm bells going off in his mind as his tongue got ahead of him. “Let’s court.”

Seiji looked at him like he was speaking gibberish.

“You want to _court?”_ He asked in astonishment. _“Me?”_ He added for clarity.

 _No,_ Nick thought desperately. _That’ll just make it worse._

“Yeah,” Nick said casually. “Courting. You’re allowed to do that, right?”

“If you’re not my soulmate...”

“Then we part ways, no worse for wear. Maybe I’m not Fated enough after all and I go date other people, and you go find your real soulmate. And we can keep it on the down-low so I don’t ruin your reputation in case I’m just a nobody.”

“Nobody here knows who I am and I doubt high school gossip could make it back to France. But secret courting would be better in case you’re not Fated, that way no one questions what I was doing courting you if my identity comes out. I wouldn’t court a commoner without a reason and _that_ could be a gossip mine. I’m not unpopular in France. I’d hate to be the source of compromising _your_ identity.”

Nick noticed that Seiji hadn’t shut down the idea of courting and took it as a yes. He knew he should have hoped for Seiji to dismiss the notion, it would have been better for them that way. Better for Nick especially. Fated, Nick had decided when he was young and being told a story of a woman who had fallen in love with a Fated man, couldn’t fall in love with anyone that wasn’t their soulmate, not all the way. And Nick didn’t know if he was a Fated. He might just be like that woman, falling stupidly in love. If he let it get that far, he knew where it would leave him.

“So tell me,” Nick said to Seiji’s rigid profile. “What do we do now that we’re secretly courting?”

“Spend time together, mostly,” Seiji replied. “And,” the rigid profile turned to Nick, “this. Nothing more.” Next thing Nick knew, Seiji was leaning into him to kiss his cheek in a painfully hesitant way. “You’re a good captain, Nicholas. Thank you for holding my place on the team.”

“Of course,” Nick said dumbly.

Seiji stood up.

“Goodnight.”

“’Night.”

* * *

Nathan was the last up. Nick could feel Seiji’s tension by his side and Zayn’s buzzing anticipation on his other. Justin Yang was a defensive fencer, Nathan would have trouble with him. They’d been working on it with him but would it be enough? There was chatter all around them but the gym felt oddly quiet to Nick without the reels snapping against the strip. Neither fencer was making the first move.

“Come on, Nathan,” Zayn groaned, not loud enough for anyone but Nick and Seiji to hear, “this is boring, _do_ something.”

“Don’t attack, though,” Seiji muttered under his breath, as if Nathan could actually hear either of them. “Just bait.”

Maybe Nathan _could_ hear them, or maybe Seiji’s expectations were just so loud that Nathan felt them in his bones because not even a second after Seiji had spoken did Nathan feint an attack, catching Justin’s blade in a counter parry and scoring on the riposte. Zayn whooped, Seiji shushed him. But Nick noticed that the whoop put a bounce in Nathan’s step. From there, the bout progressed in Nathan’s favor, his baiting proving to piss Justin off and make him sloppy and desperate for the last couple of points.

“He did it!” Zayn shouted when the last point was scored. “We did it! We won! We’re going to state!”

Seiji was looking at Zayn like he wished he’d tone it down a notch but Nick was right there with Zayn, pumped all the way up. They slapped hands in a high five and vigorous back pats were given when Nathan stepped off the strip.

Zayn and Nathan started up a jubilant chant of _State! State! State!_ and Nick clapped along with them, caught up in the good feeling of the moment. A little _too_ caught up in it, apparently, because when his attention fell again on Seiji, the sudden urge hit him to pull his oldest teammate into the celebration. So he did, pulling Seiji literally against him in a hug.

“We get to keep fencing,” he jabbered excitedly. “State, Seiji!”

Seiji’s arms closed around him and Nick even heard a small puff of laughter.

“We’re not finished yet,” Seiji agreed softly. Everything about Seiji was soft in this moment. His body fit against Nick’s with surprising ease, relaxed and yielding and not at all like Nick would have expected hugging Seiji to be like. It was nice and Nick was pretty sure Seiji thought so too because he didn’t pull away. But maybe he should have, or maybe Nick should have, because they both noticed that the hug had lasted a little too long and Seiji’s loose limbs suddenly felt stiff and unsure around Nick.

Zayn wolf-whistled and Nick pulled off of Seiji to thwack him upside the head.

“I think the closet time worked,” Nathan whispered to Zayn when they boarded the bus and Seiji sat next to Nick. It was the sort of whisper that was meant to be heard and Nick decided to let Nathan know that he had, indeed, heard the comment.

“Careful,” he called after them, knowing they’d be sitting together today too, “or I’ll lock _you two_ in a closet.”

Seiji smiled at the idea, always one for petty revenge. Nick grinned back.

“So, Captain, should we talk strategy?”

“You read my mind,” Nick said.

It was a shame, really, that they’d already used their party bus budget earlier in the semester. Seiji didn’t often speak at all on the bus drives to and from other schools; Nick thought this was the most susceptible Seiji would ever be to karaoke and it was a shame he didn’t have the means to test that theory. But this was good too. Nathan and Zayn made a racket in the back of the bus and Seiji spoke steadily through it, discussing strategy and practice schedules and notes from today with Nick until they were back at school.

“We’re meeting tomorrow at one,” Nick told the boys as they piled out of the bus. “We’ve got some notes to go over, but great job today. Don’t party too hard tonight, yeah?”

“What’re we gonna do, hold a rave in our bedroom?”

“Actually, Nathan, we _do_ have those glow sticks from Halloween…”

“Sorry, Nick, we’ve got glow sticks,” Nathan said seriously, “now we’ve _got_ to party all night.”

“Party!” Zayn bellowed, arm slinging over Nathan’s shoulders, the two of them becoming a great three-legged monster as they continued off to their room.

“And there they go again,” Nick said in amazement, watching them. “Maybe I _should_ lock them in a closet.”

“On a good day or a bad day?”

“God, either,” Nick groaned. “They’re absolute pains in the ass when they don’t get along, I’d like to lock them up just to get them out of my hair. But that’d get us a fistfight instead of a confession.”

“Do we want a confession?”

“Uh, don’t we? We’ve watched them stumble around each other all this year _and_ last, I’d like to see them figure stuff out before we graduate. Don’t you think it would be sad to see them part ways and never address this—this _thing_ they’ve got going without even giving it a chance?”

It was cold enough to see the puffs of their breaths in the air and Nick was surprised to feel a solid warmth slip into his hand. Nick closed fingers tightly around Seiji’s, not mentioning that this wasn’t entirely stealthy of them. Campus was dark and quiet, but anyone who cared to look would see them holding hands.

“Yes,” Seiji agreed as he started walking after their bumbling team babies. “It would be sad.”

* * *

“No Jesse today?” Nick asked, climbing into Eugene’s car—Jesse had called it _The Warthog_ when the door had trapped him inside last time Eugene had come to Kings Row and Nick thought it was aptly named.

“No Seiji?” Eugene returned, taking off as soon as Nick was buckled in.

“Nope, probably because he thought there’d be a Jesse.” Nick had tried to convince Seiji to come along but he’d been adamant that he had homework.

“Ah well, I’ll harass him when I drop you off. Don’t know what he’s got against Jesse now that his secret’s out. What’s he got to lose?”

“Oh,” Nick said, laughing a little. “That’s the thing. Did Jesse tell you they knew each other as kids?”

“Because of Robert’s business dealings with Mari, yeah.”

“Before Seiji moved to France, Jesse got him into fencing. And Seiji doesn’t like to lose.”

“Right. I remember that about him, believe it or not.”

“Yeah, well, Seiji _did_ get the chance to fence Jesse again a couple years ago when the Costes were in France because that’s where fancy rich people go, I guess.”

“And Seiji lost?”

“And Seiji lost,” Nick agreed. He’d wheedled the story out of Seiji only a couple days before, the night after their match at Richmond that had secured them a spot at state. They were just over a week into their secret courtship but things were already falling into place between them with alarming speed and lack of resistance. It either boded well or very, _very_ ill.

“Makes sense. Jess is an amazing fencer. If Fated schools went up against common ones, we might have had something to worry about with Exton. Jesse was captain, little fucker got the title as a sophomore, can you believe that? Who in their right mind looks at a sixteen-year-old and thinks _oh yeah, this is the kid I’m gonna make captain, seems like a great idea.”_

“You sound like mush talking about him, you realize that, don’t you?”

“Mind your fucking manners or I won’t let you out of my car when we get to The Pie.”

“Shoot, sorry, didn’t mean to offend you by saying you’re obviously in love with your fiancé and literal soulmate.” Nick laughed and Eugene joined in, dipping his head in acknowledgment that his love was pretty damn obvious to everyone at this point.

“Speaking of soulmates, what the hell is up with you and Seiji?”

“What?”

“You two are so not subtle. Seiji gave me a call a while back, poking around about soulmate business just like you.”

“Did he really? He must have been feeling pretty desperate to do that.”

“I could take that as hurtful but, since I know Seiji, I’ve got to agree with your assessment. Want to explain to me _why_ he was feeling so desperate?”

“We might be soulmates. Me and him.”

“Uh, yeah. Obviously, dipshit. I’m asking how the fuck you two managed to put the _might be_ before soulmates.”

“We can’t all have grand romantic moments like you and your prince, Eugene.”

“Funny thing about Fated, though. You’re _supposed_ to get a grand romantic moment when you’ve got a soulmate. How’d you flub it?”

Because it was Eugene, Nick didn’t even feel embarrassed saying it. “I fell on his lips one time when he was asleep. Trying to give him a stylish marker mustache.”

Eugene waited a beat for Nick to admit he was joking before he started laughing.

“Man, how the fuck?” He asked, wheezing.

“I don’t know,” Nick said through his own fits of laughter. It was pretty funny, looking back. And now that he and Seiji had a workable plan of action to deal with it. “In my defense, I didn’t know he was a Fated at the time.”

“Yeah, not knowing someone is a Fated makes it totally normal to fall on their lips.”

“It wasn’t on purpose! I swear I—,”

“I know,” Eugene said, waving a hand at Nick’s protests as they pulled into the parking lot. “When I woke Jesse, once I got in too close to his face it was like I couldn’t stop even if I tried. Like the momentum couldn’t be stopped and gravity wouldn’t let me go. Sounds like you accidentally got pulled in during your prank.”

“You think?” Nick asked, hand frozen on the handle that may or may not release him from the car. He must have sounded strange because Eugene gave him a strange, assessing look. “I mean, do you think we’re soulmates?”

Eugene didn’t come quick with a joke or an easy answer, which was how Nick knew he was taking the question seriously, thinking it through.

“Yes,” Eugene decided firmly. “I do. From what I’ve heard out of both of you, it sounds to me like soulmate stuff. And,” he added with a wicked grin, “you two have always had a little something going on, we’ve all thought so since forever. Now, you ready to eat some pizza?”

“Always,” Nick said, deciding to ignore the middle part of Eugene’s answer. The Warthog even let him out today without aid.

“What are the chances?” Eugene started after they’d ordered. “Both of us finding soulmates. That’s gotta be some sort of cosmic joke. Press’ll have a field day when they catch wind of it.” Eugene looked a little haggard at the thought of the press, but still mostly amused. He was right, the odds of _one_ commoner finding a soulmate in a generation nation-wide was already astronomically low, but two? And from the same state? The same school? The same damn _fencing team?_ That was all kinds of crazy. As long as no one went digging around too much, though, Nick should be safe…

“It’s not even a sure thing. About Seiji and me being—whatever. Seiji’s dad is gonna come run a magical test that’ll tell us for sure.”

“Seiji talked you out of your fear of needles, then?”

“Shut up.” Nick kicked Eugene’s leg under the table for his shit-eating grin. If Seiji had told Eugene that Nick was too scared of needles to take the test, Eugene hadn’t believed it for even a minute.

“When will you find out?”

“Dr. Katayama’s landing Friday and then results will take around a week.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it if I were you.”

Nick wondered what Eugene meant by that but, honestly, Nick _was_ worried. For a lot of reasons. Their pizza came, halting conversation as they both dug in. But one of Nick’s worries eventually pushed its way out of him.

“Jesse’s dad,” Nick said, “Robert. What’s he like?”

“Robert?” Eugene asked, looking at Nick like he was ten kinds of crazy.

“Sure,” Nick tried to shrug all casually. “Is he nice?”

“Yeah, Robert’s nice. I like him. Why?”

“Just wondered.” Nick didn’t even try to come up with some bullshit explanation for why, it wouldn’t have worked with Eugene. And it might not even matter for long if Eugene caught on to him.

Because Nick had a feeling that Robert Coste wasn’t stupid. Even if the press didn’t know to dig, he’d be on their radar. He’d be on Robert’s, too, between his friendship with Eugene and potential romance with Seiji. And what were the chances of the son of a woman you’d had an affair with having a soulmate without the help of your blood? That had to be even lower odds than if Nick really had been completely UnFated. He’d come to terms with the eventuality of Robert suspecting and all the different ways that might play out before giving Seiji the go-ahead on the stupid blood test. But coming to terms with something didn’t make it any less scary.

Maybe it wouldn’t be awful if Robert was nice. Maybe it wouldn’t have to be a big deal. But, if Robert was smart enough to piece things together, there was a good chance in Nick’s figuring that Jesse got told. And Jesse would tell Eugene. So it didn’t matter that Eugene was squinting at him all strange over pizza right now.

* * *

“Stop fidgeting,” Seiji demanded, stilling Nick’s bounce with a hand on his shoulder.

“Can you blame me?” Nick hissed. “My theoretical soulmate’s dad just flew in from Japan to meet me and steal my blood.”

“Do you have to make everything weird?”

“Yes. But I’m not even the weirdest part of this. Did I mention that your dad is just casually flying in from across the fucking world and now I’ve got to meet him? We’re not even dating, and we haven’t even been not doing that for a week, I’m just saying it’s all moving fast and it’s stressful.”

Seiji gave him an evaluating look, then shook his head.

“Soulmates are something of a big deal to Fated; naturally, Father would want to be sure of my soulmate. And if you are my soulmate, I assume my mother will be wanting to meet you as well. But that’s not what you’re worried about.”

“It’s not?”

“It’s not going to get out about your blood, so stop fidgeting and,” Seiji straightened Nick’s tie, “try to keep a presentable appearance. Father will be here any minute.”

Dr. Katayama was an even more rigid and formidable figure in the front seat of the sleek rental car than Seiji was. Greetings were brief and then the car fell to silence. Nick managed to keep himself still for the duration of the drive, fixating on the passing scenery out the window. Out Seiji’s window, to be precise, which got him an odd look. But Seiji didn’t snap at him to look out of his own window. Nick wondered if he was nervous about the test. There were plenty of reasons to worry as far as Nick was concerned but, then, to Seiji, this was just a quick check to see if he was stuck with Nick or if he’d get an upgrade.

They parked in the general hospital and Seiji and Nick followed Dr. Katayama into the looming building. Because there was no one around and Nick’s nerves were skyrocketing more and more with each second closer to the determination of his future, he groped for Seiji’s hand. Because the hallways they were led through were empty, or because Seiji was grateful to Nick for doing this, or maybe because Seiji liked him just a little, Nick was allowed to hold it. Dr. Katayama didn’t comment on it, same as he’d failed to comment on absolutely anything.

“Take a seat, Mr. Cox,” he said, tone even and unimpressed and so much like Seiji’s default.

“Me first?” He asked, and laughed nervously when two pairs of unimpressed eyes leveled on him. “Right. Sure. I’ll just, uh, sit…”

Nick sat in the chair that felt too large for this little room and Seiji stood by his side, holding his hand the entire time Dr. Katayama cleaned and prepped Nick’s arm. The needle didn’t bother Nick at all, but the tube of flowing blood disturbed him a bit to look at. So he looked at his hand, white-knuckled and held tightly in Seiji’s.

Nick was amused at the Spider-Man bandaid Dr. Katayama fixed seriously on his arm. Nick stood up as soon as he was done and Dr. Katayama looked about to say something but, whatever it was, he decided Nick could do without hearing it.

“Seiji, if you would,” Dr. Katayama said, gesturing to the seat Nick had just vacated. The entire process had been quick, much to Nick’s relief. He wanted to go back to school and forget about this all for a bit longer.

“Dr. Katayama!” A harried nurse said, bursting into the room. Dr. Katayama looked up from cleaning Seiji’s arm, glaring at the man for his interruption. “There’s a complication with a surgery, Dr. Malloy’s our best and he’s forty minutes away—we heard you were here and you’re the best there is. I wouldn’t ask but it’s—,” Whether he was going to finish that sentence with _an emergency_ or _life or death,_ they didn’t find out. Dr. Katayama was on his feet and sweeping out the door in an instant. Off to save lives or something.

“We could be here a while,” Seiji said, not even staring after his dad.

“Does this happen a lot?” Nick asked, watching Seiji roll down his sleeve.

“On almost every occasion I’ve gone with Father to work, I get stuck wandering the hospital alone for at least three hours longer than the time estimate he gave me.”

“Spooky. Well, this time you’ve got me. So what’s there to do around this place?”

“Not much,” Seiji said flatly. And then he reached into the messenger bag Nick had made fun of him for bringing and pulled out a book.

“Why didn’t you warn me this would happen?” Nick griped. “I didn’t bring anything.”

“What would you have brought besides your phone? Homework? A book?” Seiji made a derisive little sound that he probably counted as a laugh. “I meant to pack you a coloring book but Zayn needed some entertainment the other day and, sadly, used my last one.”

“You’re hilarious. I _can_ read, you know.”

“Oh? Then you can read this,” Seiji said blandly, reaching back into his bag and pulling out _another_ book. Was that there as a backup for Seiji? Or had he brought it with the intention of tricking Nick into reading it?

Nick wasn’t about to back down now, so he took the damn book.

“We need snacks,” he said. “If we’re going to sit and be boring instead of explore the hospital—,”

“Exploring hospitals is not very fun, nor is it entirely ethical.”

“—then I want snacks. There’s gotta be vending machines or a cafe or _something_ around here, right? Or do you have some in that magic bag of yours?”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Guess I’ll just wander around alone, maybe cause some chaos. Think I might try dancing through—,”

“Fine.” Seiji stood, book in hand, and opened the door. “I’ll take you to the vending machines. Just try to behave, won’t you?”

“Uh-huh,” Nick agreed, tucking the book Seiji had given him under an arm and following Seiji.

When they arrived at their destination, Nick realized he should have made Seiji bring along his bag for better storage but Seiji balked at the suggestion so Nick loaded up his arms and sat down in the deserted waiting area. There were a lot of those around here, he’d noticed.

“We should go back,” Seiji said.

“No way, that room only has one chair, plus the rolly stool. Ooh, actually, rolly stools are fun, I guess we can go back.”

“You’re not playing around on the doctor’s stool.”

“Then come sit.” Nick patted the spot next to him. “This couch isn’t that uncomfortable.”

“I know. I spent a fair amount of time here as a child and this room has the best seating, privacy,” Seiji paused, then shrugged and admitted, “and snacks.”

“You sly devil, you brought me here on purpose. Best date spot in the hospital, I’m flattered.”

“You don’t go to date spots during courtship.”

“Best court spot, then? Anyway, you can’t fool me. _We should go back.”_ Nick snorted. “You didn’t mean that. Come sit. We’ll have a fucking reading party.”

“I had to try,” Seiji said, but sat next to Nick with a corner of mouth turned up just enough to count as a smile. “For the sake of propriety.”

Armed with snacks, Nick cracked open the book Seiji had hoisted on him. It wasn’t the sort of book Nick generally read and he skimmed his way through the first handful of pages but he kept noticing Seiji peeking at him over the top of his own book.

 _Ohh,_ Nick thought, _he likes this book a lot._ It was kind of cute that he was checking in on Nick’s reaction to it. Cute enough that Nick actually buckled down and started reading it in earnest. Nick wouldn’t read things a quarter of this behemoth’s length for school but, apparently, he’d read it with nothing but the batting of Seiji’s pretty eyelashes. He wondered if he’d continue reading this once the results came in. If the results proved they weren’t anything special. But then the book actually started getting interesting and he stopped having room in his brain to worry or wonder over Seiji at all.

“No word from Father yet,” Seiji said eventually. “Sorry, I think we’ll be here at least another hour before he’s done. Probably longer.”

“That’s fine. I didn’t schedule any practice for today so we’re good,” Nick said absently, finishing out the paragraph before looking up from the book. “Hey, I looked up the rules of courtship.”

“And?”

“And it said kissing is permitted on the back of the hand and either cheek.”

“Yes,” Seiji said in a drawn-out, untrusting way.

“And hand-holding.”

“Clearly those things are all permitted.”

Nick nodded, remembering Seiji’s brief press of lips to his cheek a week ago and the fit of their hands together.

“But what about, say, using laps as pillows? Is that allowed?”

“You want to use my lap as a pillow?” Seiji asked with obvious incredulity.

“Can I?”

“First snacks and now naps. Perhaps Eugene is right to call all of you team babies.”

“First of all, Eugene calls _all_ of us team babies. Second, I didn’t say I wanted to nap. Just a change of position.”

Seiji faltered, unsure of how to answer.

“There’s no caution against it,” he said. And that was as much of a go-ahead as Nick was likely to get.

He situated himself with legs dangling over the arm of the couch and head in Seiji’s lap.

“Thanks,” he said, lifting his book back up to read.

“If you drop that on your face, it will hurt,” Seiji warned.

“Don’t worry, I’m strong enough to hold this bad boy up for hours,” he assured.

But, by the time Dr. Katayama appeared in their waiting room, Nick had resituated himself onto his stomach, chin resting in Seiji’s lap and arm snaking under his thighs to hold the book open as it leaned against the armrest.

* * *

After Seiji’s blood had been drawn, Nick hadn’t returned his hand or his book to him. The hand, he’d had to give back when they got to school, it wasn’t late enough to be doing something so obvious on campus. And their courtship was technically meant to be secret. But the book, he’d held onto. He’d decided that even if the test results came in and declared them both unsoulmates tomorrow, he’d finish reading the thing.

“How did I live with you for almost four years without knowing you’re a hoverer?” Nick asked, tipping his head up to look at Seiji. In addition to not-so-subtly checking on Nick’s reactions whenever he pulled out _Way of Kings,_ Seiji had also taken to hovering over Nick’s shoulder and reading in on where he was. Sometimes, like tonight, Seiji stayed reading over his shoulder for several pages.

“And how did I live with you for almost four years without knowing you knew how to read?”

Nick closed the book on the unopened candy bar from the vending machine he’d first hurriedly shoved in there to mark his place five days ago and whacked it against Seiji’s hip before standing, abandoning his seat at their shared desk.

Seiji laughed. An earnest and full one. In all their time together, Nick had only heard that sound a handful of times. Amazingly, he’d heard it more in the last two weeks than the rest of their time together combined. Courting, Seiji had said, was mostly about spending time together and getting to know each other. Nick almost wished they’d courted sooner because, strange as it was, he _liked_ spending time with Seiji and getting to know him.

Nick captured Seiji’s hand in his and planted a kiss on it, not letting go when he was finished. Seiji still held a laugh in his eyes, calling Nick ridiculous. If the results came in—if they weren’t—if Seiji wasn’t Nick’s soulmate, he’d miss this. He’d really hoped to avoid it and to avoid admitting it once it had become unavoidable, but it was there and he was admitting it to himself. Nick would miss Seiji if they went their separate ways after graduation.

“Seiji?” He asked, rubbing a thumb across Seiji’s knuckles.

“Nicholas,” Seiji responded, meaning _yes, what is it?_

“Do you think I could kiss you?”

“Excuse me?”

“Right now, may I kiss you?” Nick didn’t bother specifying what kind of kiss he meant. He was sure it was obvious to Seiji that he wasn’t asking about a peck on the cheek in courting fashion.

“Why?” Seiji asked, surprise mingling with confusion. Maybe a dash of disbelief was in there too. “We don’t know that we’re soulmates yet, the results...”

“Yeah, exactly. The results. I want to kiss you now in case they come in and we’re not soulmates.”

“But,” Seiji’s eyebrows were pulled low, more puzzled than ever, “isn’t that exactly what you want to avoid? Getting burned the same way your mother did? If you kiss me tonight and we’re not soulmates, where does that leave you tomorrow when the results come in?”

“Did you know,” Nick said quietly, “Mom always said it was worth it. I never used to understand that but now maybe I could. Maybe I almost do already. Isn’t it too sad to never have this at all? To never try it? I want to try, Seiji, even if I get burned from it.”

Seiji’s grip of Nick’s hand tightened just slightly, his cheeks coloring spectacularly, but his eyes stayed steady on Nick, assessing. If he was looking for a prank or a trace of doubt, he wouldn’t find it.

“It’s not a proper thing to permit,” he said, still holding tightly and watching keenly. “But we’ve already kissed once either way, haven’t we? So what can one more hurt? I’d like to remember a kiss with you, even if it can only be the one.”

Nick stepped in close, cupping Seiji’s cheek with his unencumbered hand. With as much hesitance as Seiji had once kissed his cheek, Nick kissed Seiji’s. And then he kissed that corner of Seiji’s mouth that betrayed his tiny smiles. And then he kissed Seiji. It was soft and warm just like he thought he remembered from that morning months ago, but it was better than that. It didn’t last long and Nick was sad to pull away. But not as sad as he’d have been if he’d never leaned in for the kiss at all.

* * *

Seiji and Nick were both reduced to hoverers on Saturday morning. Neither of them went out to fence and Nick had rescheduled practice for evening, hoping that would give Dr. Katayama enough time to call in with the results. He was prepared to cancel it, though, if it came to that. He didn’t think he could hold a stoic face if the news was bad. Nick couldn’t even concentrate on his book—and he was at a good part, too. Seiji was in no better shape, stoic face notwithstanding.

At a little past ten, Seiji abandoned his attempts at work, vacating their desk and pulling up a spot of real estate next to Nick on his bed. With precision, Seiji placed his phone face-up between them. Nick wove their fingers together before Seiji had time to retract his hand. They didn’t talk. There wasn’t anything to say. Nick didn’t know about Seiji but he sure didn’t want to speculate about the results or confess what he was hoping for. Last night had been confession enough. No point torturing themselves with any more _what ifs_.

On the covers, Seiji’s phone started dancing with silent rings. In an instant, Seiji had it swept up and answered.

“Father? I’m putting you on speaker.” With a tap, it was done. Nick crowded in close to the phone, hand overlapping Seiji’s to hold it.

“I’ll get right to the point,” Dr. Katayama said, “I’m sure you’re both anxious to know. I’ve just consulted the blood and I can say with absolute certainty that you _are_ soulmates.”

The room was charged and silent, the news too big to be absorbed so fast.

“We’re a bond pair?” Seiji asked to be sure. “Nicholas and I are…?”

“Fated for each other, yes. I’d tell you to be more diligent about such important matters the next time but soulmates are a one time deal, and you’ve already found yours.”

“Thank you, Father. I’ve got to go now, give Mom my love.” And, with another efficient tap, the call ended at a whopping 49 seconds. Discarding the phone, Seiji turned to Nick. “We’re soulmates.”

“I know, I heard,” Nick said a little blankly. But, when it sunk in, he grabbed Seiji’s face and planted a kiss on his forehead with a whoop of laughter. “Fuck, I was so worried we weren’t!”

“And _I_ was worried you weren’t worried we weren’t soulmates,” Seiji returned with the same relieved bubbliness Nick felt. “After you told me about your dad, I thought that was all you were—,”

“It was,” Nick cut in, but quickly continued. “At first, that’s all I thought I had to worry about but then, I don’t know, something changed. Everything changed. I was so worried you had a soulmate and it wasn’t gonna be me.”

“I’m glad it is.”

“Me too.”

“But we’ll have to come up with a better story, Nicholas. I am _not_ telling people that I got woken because my imbecilic soulmate was trying to draw a _mustache_ on my face.”

“It’s a little too late for that, I already told Eugene the truth.”

“Why would you do that?” Seiji asked in horror.

“Because Eugene asked and, come on, you know it’s funny.”

“Wakings aren’t meant to be _funny.”_

“And my roommate wasn’t meant to be a Fated.”

“Neither was mine.”

“Funny how that worked out,” Nick said, calmed down considerably now as he noticed how he and Seiji had sunk into the middle of the mattress, pressed right up against each other. Seiji was leaning in, smiling.

“Funny,” he agreed quietly in the moment before pressing his lips to Nick’s. Nick wasn’t sure whether to count it as their third kiss or their third _first_ kiss. Either way, it wasn’t their last and that was what mattered.

Nick wrapped arms around Seiji’s middle and Seiji raked fingers through his hair and they were all jumbled together before they bothered to come up for air.

“I think,” Nick said, “that I’ve been pulled toward you since our first day at Kings Row.”

“That’s not how soulmates work,” Seiji informed him. “You can’t tell before the waking. But I know what you mean.” Seiji traced a hand over Nick’s chest to press his palm flat against Nick’s heart. “I spent so much time with you all these years that I never noticed how strange living without you seemed.”

“Do you think,” Nick asked, eclipsing Seiji’s hand and holding it to him, “that we would have found our way back together even if we’d tried to go our separate ways?”

With a kiss and no hesitance at all, Seiji answered.

“Absolutely.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so like…..remember my thing about Star Trek? I’ve _also_ got a thing about Brandon Sanderson, but I’ve been sneakier about it. I am not sneaky here. I COULD say that I’m being clever using [The Way of Kings](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7235533-the-way-of-kings?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=8tc7xclxS5&rank=1) here because the book and the school both have ‘Kings’ in the name, or I could tell you that Way of Kings has a big thing about unity and that’s the Kings Row motto and so it fits. And that’s true. but the truer truth is it’s just genuinely one of my favorite things in existence and therefore if I have the opportunity to reference it, I will and you all just have to humor me, same as you do with Star Trek and naps and all the other bullshit I obviously love. 
> 
> So anyway!! Holy shit! I am a liar and a dumbass but for realsies this time we're actually done! It's funny because this series started out as a little oneshot for Eugesse but I REALLY like naps and (unwilling) soulmate AUs and this is the intersection of those things so ofc I kept getting drawn back to it. Thank you very much for reading and I hope you had a good time with this strain of my soulmate AU fuckery 💜💜💜


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